Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Down 5.6% - Here's What Happened

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) traded down 5.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $6.06 and last traded at $6.03. 25,724,151 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 63% from the average session volume of 15,768,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CLF. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $17.00 target price (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Glj Research lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating and set a $3.91 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $12.74.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 23.8%

The stock has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of -7.44 and a beta of 2.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $7.54 and a 200-day moving average of $9.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The mining company reported ($0.92) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by ($0.14). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs's quarterly revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director John T. Baldwin acquired 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.70 per share, with a total value of $34,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,159,074.90. The trade was a 3.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP James D. Graham sold 120,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 trade represents a 19.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Slate Path Capital LP grew its holdings 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 worth $152,355,000 after purchasing an additional 4,239,000 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,382,769 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $69,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,247 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% in 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. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,432,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,298,868 shares of the mining company's stock worth $12,209,000 after purchasing an additional 242,386 shares during the period. 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.