Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $11.61, but opened at $13.21. Cleveland-Cliffs shares last traded at $13.45, with a volume of 7,458,251 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CLF shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.56.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 20.1 %

The company has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.37 and a beta of 1.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $12.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.58.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.72 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 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Archer Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 25.8% in the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 7,799 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 71.2% in the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 34,140 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 14,200 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $263,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 295.9% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 205,461 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 153,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crumly & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 78,504 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,002,000 after buying an additional 7,343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

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.