Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Down 5.6% – Here’s What Happened

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) traded down 5.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $6.06 and last traded at $6.03. 25,724,151 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 63% from the average session volume of 15,768,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Glj Research reissued a “sell” rating and set a $3.91 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.74.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Down 6.7%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $7.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.63. The company has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.13 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The mining company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by ($0.14). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John T. Baldwin acquired 4,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.70 per share, for a total transaction of $34,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 133,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,159,074.90. The trade was a 3.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James D. Graham sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.85, for a total transaction of $822,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 492,249 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,905.65. This trade represents a 19.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 23,500 shares of company stock worth $243,095. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 232.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,113,337 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $39,757,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,837 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 138,553 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 29,532 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter valued at $18,999,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 13,270 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 1,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 148,672 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,398,000 after buying an additional 14,955 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by 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.