Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Trading Down 2.5% – Time to Sell?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s share price traded down 2.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $9.22 and last traded at $9.44. 7,277,178 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 12,567,335 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Glj Research decreased their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of -9.70 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.35.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Keith Koci purchased 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 the SEC website. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.56 per share, with a total value of $105,600.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 24,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,952.32. This represents a 68.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 23,500 shares of company stock worth $243,095 in the last 90 days. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,382,769 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $69,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,247 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 105.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 262,771 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,429,000 after acquiring an additional 134,939 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth about $18,999,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth about $4,432,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 987.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 207,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,644,000 after acquiring an additional 187,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

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.