Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Up 4.6%

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s share price shot up 4.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $15.77 and last traded at $15.69. 3,659,936 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 8,812,928 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CLF. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Monday, May 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Cleveland-Cliffs to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.44.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 2.08.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.11) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the mining company to purchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. purchased 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.98 per share, for a total transaction of $108,605.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 314,362 shares in the company, valued at $4,709,142.76. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. purchased 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.98 per share, for a total transaction of $108,605.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 314,362 shares in the company, valued at $4,709,142.76. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves purchased 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,005,600.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 98,950 shares of company stock worth $1,639,638 in the last ninety days. 1.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 483,676 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $7,560,000 after buying an additional 14,030 shares during the period. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 37.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 43,582 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 11,807 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 83,605 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,436,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

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.