Cleveland-Cliffs Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 82,320 call options on the company. This is an increase of 126% compared to the average daily volume of 36,495 call options.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 4.3 %

NYSE:CLF opened at $13.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1-year low of $10.21 and a 1-year high of $22.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.75 and a beta of 1.97. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.57.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.02). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.58% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 54.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,906,597 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $244,794,000 after acquiring an additional 5,621,797 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,093,632 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $93,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,027,757 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 1,893.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,227,848 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $156,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,258 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 23.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,597,662 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $86,148,000 after buying an additional 1,069,907 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 1,650.8% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 874,464 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $13,458,000 after acquiring an additional 824,518 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CLF. Seaport Res Ptn raised Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.56.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

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.