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

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

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of CLF traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $10.26. The company had a trading volume of 12,155,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,656,618. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $10.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.14. The stock has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.57 and a beta of 1.97. 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.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released 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 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The company had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Altus Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 11,900 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 40,408 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 13,270 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313 shares during the period. Sterneck Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sterneck Capital Management LLC now owns 19,512 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,378 shares during the period. Finally, Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,229 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Glj Research upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.27 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reduced 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.93.

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.