Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.44.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CLF. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, CFO Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. bought 7,250 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $14.98 per share, for a total transaction of $108,605.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 314,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,709,142.76. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, CFO Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. purchased 7,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,709,142.76. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ben Oren acquired 6,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $14.99 per share, for a total transaction of $100,433.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,363.33. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter valued at $839,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter valued at about $71,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 626,207 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $12,787,000 after purchasing an additional 72,185 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 82.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 392,842 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $8,932,000 after purchasing an additional 177,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 1st quarter valued at about $100,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

NYSE:CLF opened at $13.95 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $15.52 and its 200-day moving average is $18.24. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1-year low of $13.80 and a 1-year high of $22.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.03.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $5.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 0.21% and a return on equity of 4.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, April 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the mining company to purchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.