Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 2,832 Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 632,313 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 2,832 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.13% of Cleveland-Cliffs worth $12,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Korea Investment CORP raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 30.6% in the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 514,890 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $8,048,000 after buying an additional 120,540 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 240.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,988,689 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $31,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,491 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,970,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,908,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 29.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 554,022 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $8,659,000 after purchasing an additional 125,884 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. 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 report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Argus downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. B. Riley lowered their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.42.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $16.70 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.61 and a twelve month high of $22.97. The stock has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.03. The company’s fifty day moving average is $20.78 and its 200 day moving average is $19.08.

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

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, April 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, Director Arlene M. Yocum purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.02 per share, with a total value of $40,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 94,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,899,637.74. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arlene M. Yocum purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.02 per share, with a total value of $40,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 94,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,899,637.74. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 87,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,640 and have sold 221,066 shares valued at $4,464,688. Insiders own 1.76% 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.