Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $16.43.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Glj Research cut their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $6.91 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $10.04 and a 200-day moving average of $11.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.13 and a beta of 1.94. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1 year low of $6.17 and a 1 year high of $22.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jane M. Cronin bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.56 per share, for a total transaction of $105,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 24,522 shares in the company, valued at $258,952.32. The trade was a 68.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Keith Koci bought 9,500 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.81 per share, with a total value of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. This trade represents a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095. 1.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,382,769 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $69,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,247 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 105.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 262,771 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,429,000 after purchasing an additional 134,939 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter worth about $18,999,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,432,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $458,267,000 after buying an additional 2,556,332 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.