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

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Free Report) by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,086,704 shares of the mining company's stock after selling 519,485 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Cleveland-Cliffs worth $13,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Gradient Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 138.8% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the mining company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 247.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,885 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the first quarter valued at about $45,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley cut 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 report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.56.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLF traded down $0.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $11.04. 15,973,630 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,545,546. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.21 and a 12 month high of $22.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a PE ratio of -11.38 and a beta of 1.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.02). The business 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%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs 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.