Cleveland-Cliffs Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CLF)

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

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 20.8 %

Shares of CLF stock traded up $2.41 on Wednesday, reaching $14.02. 22,441,193 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,037,936. 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 twelve month low of $10.21 and a twelve month high of $22.97. The company has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.90 and a beta of 1.97. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $12.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.58.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.02). Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 4.94% and a net margin of 0.21%. The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CLF shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 71.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 34,140 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 14,200 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter worth $263,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 295.9% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 205,461 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 153,560 shares during the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 78,504 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 7,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Easterly Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,764,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

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.