Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Trading Down 4.7% – Here’s What Happened

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) shares dropped 4.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $9.76 and last traded at $9.68. Approximately 3,107,937 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 12,506,197 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Glj Research cut their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.87 and a beta of 1.94.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.65) by ($0.03). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, EVP Keith Koci acquired 9,500 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.81 per share, with a total value of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. This trade represents a 1.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Baldwin bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.70 per share, with a total value of $34,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at $1,159,074.90. This trade represents a 3.10 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 23,500 shares of company stock worth $243,095 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLF. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 460,347 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $4,327,000 after purchasing an additional 5,485 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 1,151.4% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 150,037 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,410,000 after buying an additional 138,047 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter worth $407,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 9,170.9% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 69,995 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $658,000 after acquiring an additional 69,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,298,868 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $12,209,000 after acquiring an additional 242,386 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel company and the largest iron ore pellet producer in North America. The company is vertically integrated from mining through iron making, steelmaking, rolling, finishing and downstream with hot and cold stamping of steel parts and components. The company was formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc in August 2017.