Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) by 30.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,150 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,250 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs were worth $1,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CLF. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,000,065 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $322,771,000 after buying an additional 3,295,448 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,678,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,233,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,506,741 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,433,561,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,018 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 56,453,183 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,034,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,041,111 shares during the period. 60.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $21.50 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. BNP Paribas cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. TheStreet cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Argus cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.30.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CLF traded up $0.30 on Monday, hitting $20.07. The company had a trading volume of 7,011,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,121,157. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.74. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.61 and a 1 year high of $21.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.02.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The mining company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.05). Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.81% and a return on equity of 6.79%. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.30) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 $550,953.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,841,834.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688. Company insiders own 1.57% 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.