Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Short Interest Up 22.9% in December

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 54,300,000 shares, an increase of 22.9% from the November 30th total of 44,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,680,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 11.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 177,043 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,725,000 after buying an additional 17,004 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 90.0% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 147,207 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,266,000 after acquiring an additional 69,730 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter worth about $189,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 287,849 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $4,430,000 after acquiring an additional 38,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 144.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 51,857 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $798,000 after acquiring an additional 30,651 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

NYSE CLF traded up $0.09 on Tuesday, reaching $9.39. The company had a trading volume of 5,155,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,801,205. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.99. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12 month low of $8.99 and a 12 month high of $22.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a PE ratio of -9.68 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.72 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s quarterly revenue was down 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.22.

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.