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

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s share price was down 8.8% during 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 changed hands 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.42, for a total value of $37,260,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CLF. UBS Group set a $15.00 price target on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cleveland-Cliffs from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Glj Research dropped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $9.52 to $9.42 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.89.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.69 and a beta of 1.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,391,397 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $722,318,000 after acquiring an additional 6,447,462 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,450,442 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $208,623,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,807 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,039,851 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $133,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,042 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,731,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 8,010,913 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $97,733,000 after buying an additional 1,195,035 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

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.