Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $9.53, but opened at $9.12. Cleveland-Cliffs shares last traded at $9.24, with a volume of 3,937,984 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLF has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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 cut their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Glj Research dropped their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.74 and a beta of 1.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $10.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.29.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, EVP Keith Koci bought 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. This represents a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.56 per share, for a total transaction of $105,600.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 24,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $258,952.32. This trade represents a 68.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 23,500 shares of company stock worth $243,095 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth about $55,453,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,381,000. Slate Path Capital LP grew its position 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 valued at $152,355,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $458,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556,332 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 232.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,113,337 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $39,757,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,837 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.