South Dakota Investment Council Cuts Holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. $CLF

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) by 15.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,140,591 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 201,228 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs were worth $13,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,450,442 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $208,623,000 after acquiring an additional 4,603,807 shares during the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the second quarter valued at $63,731,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 17.5% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 8,010,913 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $97,733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,035 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 200.4% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,329,414 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $48,104,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter worth about $44,120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, COO Clifford T. Smith sold 200,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.46, for a total transaction of $2,092,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 560,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,863,133.34. The trade was a 26.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 3,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.42, for a total transaction of $37,260,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 7.0%

Shares of NYSE:CLF opened at $11.41 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $12.88 and its 200 day moving average is $12.33. The company has a market cap of $6.51 billion, a PE ratio of -3.91 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 0.50. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 1 year low of $5.63 and a 1 year high of $16.70.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The mining company reported ($0.43) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.19. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 18.94% and a negative net margin of 7.91%.The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.68) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CLF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cleveland-Cliffs from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Glj Research decreased their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $9.52 to $9.42 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.89.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is a leading North American producer of iron ore pellets and flat-rolled steel products. Tracing its roots to 1847, the company has evolved from an iron-ore mining concern in the Great Lakes region into a fully integrated steelmaker. Today, Cleveland-Cliffs operates iron ore mining complexes in Michigan and Minnesota as well as steelmaking and finishing facilities across the United States.

The company’s integrated platform begins with direct control of key raw materials, including iron ore and scrap, and extends through every stage of steel production.