Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 519,485 Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) by 32.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,086,704 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 519,485 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs were worth $13,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,893,879 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $330,665,000 after buying an additional 3,110,651 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 54.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,906,597 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $244,794,000 after acquiring an additional 5,621,797 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,093,632 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $93,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,027,757 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,751,153 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $47,902,000 after purchasing an additional 121,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Drexel Morgan & Co. boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.8% in the third quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 3,200,395 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $40,869,000 after purchasing an additional 116,400 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:CLF opened at $9.24 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.53 and a beta of 1.92. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.13 and a 12-month high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.72 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s quarterly revenue was down 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.22.

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.