Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 3,749,785 Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. $CLF

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,749,785 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,797,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CLF. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 281.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,308,271 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $28,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703,791 shares in the last quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. lifted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 474,862 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $6,306,000 after acquiring an additional 151,868 shares during the last quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter valued at approximately $10,932,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,171,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 17.5% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 8,010,913 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $97,733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,035 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. sold 214,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.41, for a total value of $2,873,870.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 184,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,474,708.22. This represents a 53.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.95% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CLF shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $16.80 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Argus raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Glj Research restated a “sell” rating and issued a $9.42 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $11.99.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 0.1%

Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $13.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of -5.79 and a beta of 2.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.51. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.72 and a 12 month high of $16.70.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 20th. The mining company reported ($0.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.04. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 6.42% and a negative return on equity of 15.48%. The company had revenue of $4.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.92) EPS. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs Profile

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.