Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 833,530 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,835,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 130.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,600 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1,190.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,330 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 4,917 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CLF. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Glj Research lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

CLF opened at $9.45 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.50 and a 52-week high of $22.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.29. The company has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.74 and a beta of 1.94.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. On average, analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Keith Koci bought 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 543,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,874,964.75. This trade represents a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Baldwin bought 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.70 per share, with a total value of $34,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 133,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,159,074.90. This trade represents a 3.10 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 23,500 shares of company stock worth $243,095. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.