Morgan Stanley Reaffirms “Equal Weight” Rating for Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)

Morgan Stanley reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $15.00 price target on the mining company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a buy rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, B. Riley reissued a buy rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $17.56.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $12.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 21.57 and a beta of 1.97. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.63. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1-year low of $10.21 and a 1-year high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 4.94% and a net margin of 0.21%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 0.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 2,858.0% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,429 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 247.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,885 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.