Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Down 8.8% Following Insider Selling

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) shares dropped 8.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $11.23 and last traded at $11.3840. Approximately 8,586,527 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 17,707,482 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.48.

Specifically, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 3,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.42, for a total transaction of $37,260,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp cut Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $14.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Cleveland-Cliffs from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.89.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Down 8.0%

The business has a 50 day moving average of $13.44 and a 200-day moving average of $12.27. The stock has a market cap of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of -3.90 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The mining company reported ($0.43) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 18.94% and a negative net margin of 7.91%.The company’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.68) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,280,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,123,261 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $14,917,000 after acquiring an additional 164,200 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 725,706 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $9,637,000 after acquiring an additional 48,500 shares during the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC lifted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 37,425 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 6,699 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 226,487 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,254 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is a leading North American producer of iron ore pellets and flat-rolled steel products. Tracing its roots to 1847, the company has evolved from an iron-ore mining concern in the Great Lakes region into a fully integrated steelmaker. Today, Cleveland-Cliffs operates iron ore mining complexes in Michigan and Minnesota as well as steelmaking and finishing facilities across the United States.

The company’s integrated platform begins with direct control of key raw materials, including iron ore and scrap, and extends through every stage of steel production.