Easterly Investment Partners LLC Acquires 1,064,308 Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) by 491.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,280,725 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,064,308 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned 0.26% of Cleveland-Cliffs worth $12,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $458,267,000 after buying an additional 2,556,332 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,236,247 shares during the last quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 4,300,395 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $40,424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100,000 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,176,194 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $39,256,000 after purchasing an additional 425,041 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 135.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,615,774 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $33,988,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079,589 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup cut their target price 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 restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Glj Research reduced their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $9.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of -9.43 and a beta of 1.94. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.50 and a 52 week high of $22.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.85.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John T. Baldwin bought 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.70 per share, with a total value of $34,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,159,074.90. The trade was a 3.10 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin purchased 10,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.56 per share, for a total transaction of $105,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,522 shares in the company, valued at $258,952.32. The trade was 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. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

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.