Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Sells 81,647 Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund reduced its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) by 72.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 30,280 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 81,647 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs were worth $689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 93.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 41,650 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $850,000 after buying an additional 20,143 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 626,207 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $12,787,000 after acquiring an additional 72,185 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 86,875 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,774,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. JB Capital LLC raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 63,640 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after purchasing an additional 11,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on CLF. StockNews.com lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.44.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves bought 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,005,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,242,331.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.00 per share, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 59,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,018,300. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves purchased 60,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,005,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares in the company, valued at $46,242,331.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 98,950 shares of company stock valued at $1,639,638. 1.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of CLF stock opened at $15.25 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $15.81 and its 200 day moving average is $18.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.84 and a 12 month high of $22.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 4.94% and a net margin of 0.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cleveland-Cliffs 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.