Insider Buying: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Director Purchases 25,000 Shares of Stock

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.00 per share, with a total value of $425,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 59,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,018,300. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

NYSE CLF opened at $16.70 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.08. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.61 and a 12-month high of $22.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.03.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.11) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on CLF shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Argus lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, B. Riley lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.42.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,824 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 21,507 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 56,347 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $881,000 after acquiring an additional 3,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 554,022 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $8,659,000 after acquiring an additional 125,884 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.