Cleveland-Cliffs Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 63,369 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 49% compared to the typical daily volume of 42,412 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $553,811.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total value of $132,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 2,858.0% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,429 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 83.7% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,571 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 41.7% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CLF. Argus cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of CLF traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $18.25. 14,323,154 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,827,147. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $20.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12 month low of $13.61 and a 12 month high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its 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 return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.11) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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