Insider Buying: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) CEO Purchases 60,000 Shares of Stock

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) CEO Lourenco Goncalves acquired 60,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $16.76 per share, with a total value of $1,005,600.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Lourenco Goncalves also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 6th, Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $3,778,275.84.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

NYSE:CLF traded down $0.20 on Wednesday, reaching $16.70. The stock had a trading volume of 15,883,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,980,271. The company has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.61 and a 1-year high of $22.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.08.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. Cleveland-Cliffs's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.11) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, April 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the mining company to purchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth approximately $117,585,000. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 4,037,507 shares of the mining company's stock worth $82,446,000 after purchasing an additional 334,739 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,542,004 shares of the mining company's stock worth $72,328,000 after purchasing an additional 194,948 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 9.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,735,603 shares of the mining company's stock worth $42,757,000 after purchasing an additional 236,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 154.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,472 shares of the mining company's stock worth $40,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,961 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CLF shares. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $16.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.42.

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.