Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Down 1.7% – Here’s Why

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) traded down 1.7% on Friday . The company traded as low as $9.04 and last traded at $9.37. 5,557,580 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 12,622,716 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective 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. Citigroup lowered their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Glj Research lowered their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of -9.72 and a beta of 1.94. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.32.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion during 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%. Research analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, Director John T. Baldwin purchased 4,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.70 per share, for a total transaction of $34,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at $1,159,074.90. The trade was a 3.10 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.56 per share, with a total value of $105,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,522 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 23,500 shares of company stock worth $243,095. 1.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Estabrook Capital Management increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 207.7% in the fourth quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 4,000 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 130.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,600 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 2,600 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.