Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 86,580,000 shares, a growth of 28.6% from the May 15th total of 67,320,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 28,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 17.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on CLF. Glj Research downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating and set a $3.91 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.25 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.03.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of CLF stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $7.65. 53,004,470 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,150,271. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company's 50 day moving average is $7.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.13. The company has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.14 and a beta of 1.85. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1 year low of $5.63 and a 1 year high of $16.47.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The mining company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 12.84% and a negative net margin of 6.35%. The company's revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, EVP James D. Graham sold 120,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.85, for a total value of $822,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 492,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,371,905.65. This represents a 19.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLF. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $462,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 134,400 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 351,212 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $3,301,000 after buying an additional 37,343 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 109.0% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 52,019 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 27,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,366,077 shares of the mining company's stock worth $12,841,000 after buying an additional 45,522 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company's stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.