Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) by 87.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,041 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 83,657 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs were worth $113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,381,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $458,267,000 after buying an additional 2,556,332 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 232.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,113,337 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $39,757,000 after buying an additional 2,176,837 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 135.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,615,774 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $33,988,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079,589 shares during the period. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter valued at $18,999,000. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, EVP Keith Koci bought 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 543,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. This represents a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.56 per share, with a total value of $105,600.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 24,522 shares in the company, valued at $258,952.32. This represents a 68.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

NYSE:CLF opened at $7.32 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.05. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.17 and a 52 week high of $22.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of -7.54 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 quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.03). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The business had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.