Traders Purchase Large Volume of Cleveland-Cliffs Call Options (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 68,896 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 41% compared to the typical volume of 48,917 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 299.8% during the 3rd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,490 shares during the period. Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter worth $34,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 231.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on CLF. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of 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. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price for the company. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Glj Research upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.27 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.68.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $10.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.85. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52 week low of $8.99 and a 52 week high of $22.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.13 and a beta of 1.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.26 and a 200-day moving average of $11.67.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted 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 net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.