Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. $CLF

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 165,400 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,398,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the first quarter worth about $339,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 27.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 49,955 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 10,733 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 4.4% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 143,264 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 6,073 shares in the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 22,167 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 7,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,081,241 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $23,417,000 after acquiring an additional 520,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, EVP Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. sold 214,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.41, for a total transaction of $2,873,870.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 184,542 shares in the company, valued at $2,474,708.22. The trade was a 53.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Glj Research upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $9.03 to $15.01 in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Friday, April 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $12.90.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $9.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 2.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.42. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.73 and a 1 year high of $16.70. The firm has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of -4.20 and a beta of 2.13.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The mining company reported ($0.40) earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $4.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.92) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.27 earnings per share 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.