Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) CEO Buys $1,005,600.00 in Stock

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) CEO Lourenco Goncalves bought 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.76 per share, with a total value of $1,005,600.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Lourenco Goncalves also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 6th, Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $3,778,275.84.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of CLF stock opened at $16.70 on Thursday. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.61 and a twelve month high of $22.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.11) earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, April 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the mining company to purchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CLF. Argus cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. TheStreet cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.42.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,824 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 21,507 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 56,347 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $881,000 after acquiring an additional 3,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 554,022 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $8,659,000 after acquiring an additional 125,884 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.