Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Down 8.6% – Here’s What Happened

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) fell 8.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $7.07 and last traded at $7.27. 7,023,895 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 13,992,248 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on 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. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.24.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.86. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.57 and a beta of 1.93. 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 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). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, EVP Keith Koci purchased 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at $5,874,964.75. This trade represents a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Baldwin purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.70 per share, for a total transaction of $34,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,159,074.90. The trade was a 3.10 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $458,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556,332 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 21,247,426 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $199,724,000 after buying an additional 647,282 shares during the last quarter. Slate Path Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Slate Path Capital LP now owns 16,208,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $152,355,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,466,747 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $79,611,000 after acquiring an additional 264,078 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,382,769 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $69,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,247 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.