Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 76,612 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 94% compared to the typical volume of 39,592 call options.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of CLF stock opened at $11.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.26 and a beta of 1.97. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12-month low of $10.21 and a 12-month high of $22.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $12.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.72 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was down 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. Analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 299.8% during the 3rd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 138.8% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on CLF shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.56.

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.