Cleveland-Cliffs Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 63,369 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 49% compared to the typical volume of 42,412 call options.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,221 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $550,953.04. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Ron A. Bloom acquired 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.24 per share, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $550,953.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arlene M. Yocum bought 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.02 per share, with a total value of $40,040.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 94,887 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,899,637.74. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688 in the last ninety days. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $117,585,000. Peconic Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth $42,370,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,568,961 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 240.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,988,689 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $31,083,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter valued at $27,928,000. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. BNP Paribas downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $16.50 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a "b-" rating to a "c" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.75.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of CLF traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $18.25. 14,323,154 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,827,147. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Cleveland-Cliffs has a fifty-two week low of $13.61 and a fifty-two week high of $22.97. The company has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.03. The firm's fifty day moving average is $20.94 and its 200 day moving average is $18.99.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.11) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.

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