Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Short Interest Down 5.9% in August

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 39,310,000 shares, a decrease of 5.9% from the August 15th total of 41,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 8.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CLF opened at $11.54 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.63. The firm has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 21.57 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 company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 4.94% and a net margin of 0.21%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 0.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CLF. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 138.8% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 2,858.0% during the first 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 period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 41.7% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% 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.