Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Short Interest Down 22.2% in December

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 42,260,000 shares, a decline of 22.2% from the December 15th total of 54,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 14,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 8.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Glj Research upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.27 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.93.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 2.1 %

CLF traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $10.46. The company had a trading volume of 4,408,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,753,526. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52 week low of $8.99 and a 52 week high of $22.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.78 and a beta of 1.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $10.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.59.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.72 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The company’s revenue was down 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 299.8% during the third quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 231.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by 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.