Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves Bought Up the Slumping Steel Stock

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Shares of

Cleveland-Cliffs
,
the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America, have slid in recent weeks, and Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves bought a large block of shares.

Cleveland-Cliffs stock (ticker: CLF) had started the year strong. In February, the company reported a fourth-quarter loss that was less than analysts’ estimates, although sales came in light. On March 3, Goncalves hailed a preliminary vote by the International Trade Commission, viewing it as progress “to remedy surging imports of dumped and subsidized tin mill products in the U.S. market.”

Soon after that preliminary vote, however, Cleveland-Cliffs stock began to slip. Shares still ended the first quarter with a 14% gain, but so far in the second quarter they are down 20%. Strong first-quarter earnings, reported at the end of April, helped to halt the slide, but shares have essentially been treading water since.

Goncalves paid $1.5 million on April 27 for 100,000 shares, an average price of $14.96 each. He now owns 2.5 million shares in a personal account and another three million shares in a trust, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cleveland-Cliffs didn’t respond to a request to make Goncalves available for comment on his stock purchase.

Goncalves, who has been heading the company since August 2014, last bought Cleveland-Cliffs stock on the open market in December 2021, when he paid $988,250 for 50,000 shares, an average price of $19.77 each.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.