Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Short Interest Up 28.6% in May

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 86,580,000 shares, an increase of 28.6% from the May 15th total of 67,320,000 shares. Currently, 17.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 28,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, EVP James D. Graham sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.85, for a total value of $822,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 492,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,371,905.65. The trade was a 19.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Estabrook Capital Management lifted its holdings 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 worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,100 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 36.6% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,216 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 1,664 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 4.4%

CLF opened at $7.33 on Thursday. Cleveland-Cliffs has a twelve month low of $5.63 and a twelve month high of $16.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.00 and a beta of 1.85.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The mining company reported ($0.92) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by ($0.14). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 12.84% and a negative net margin of 6.35%. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CLF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Glj Research cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating and set a $3.91 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 target price (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.03.

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.