Easterly Investment Partners LLC Grows Stake in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) by 491.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,280,725 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,064,308 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs were worth $12,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $458,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556,332 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,382,769 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $69,398,000 after buying an additional 1,236,247 shares during the period. Drexel Morgan & Co. raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 4,300,395 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $40,424,000 after buying an additional 1,100,000 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,176,194 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $39,256,000 after acquiring an additional 425,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 135.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,615,774 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $33,988,000 after purchasing an additional 2,079,589 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of CLF opened at $9.15 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.24. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.50 and a 1 year high of $22.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.43 and a beta of 1.94.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.65) by ($0.03). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CLF shares. Citigroup cut their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Glj Research dropped their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jane M. Cronin purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.56 per share, with a total value of $105,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 24,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $258,952.32. The trade was a 68.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Keith Koci bought 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at $5,874,964.75. The trade was a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 23,500 shares of company stock worth $243,095. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

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.