Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 76,468 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 86% compared to the typical volume of 41,201 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Glj Research raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.27 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. 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, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.68.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,893,879 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $330,665,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,651 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $69,398,000 after buying an additional 1,236,247 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,176,194 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $39,256,000 after acquiring an additional 425,041 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,316,786 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $31,178,000 after acquiring an additional 391,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Drexel Morgan & Co. raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 3,200,395 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $40,869,000 after acquiring an additional 116,400 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $10.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.30 and a 200-day moving average of $11.96. The stock has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 1.96. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52 week low of $8.99 and a 52 week high of $22.97.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

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.