Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on CLF. Citigroup lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Argus lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a b- rating to a c rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an underperform rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $19.92.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLF opened at $20.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1 year low of $13.61 and a 1 year high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The mining company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.16 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 1.81%. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.30) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $553,811.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 534,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total value of $132,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $553,811.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,793,917.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth approximately $117,585,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 18.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,000,065 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $322,771,000 after purchasing an additional 3,295,448 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 801.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,608,984 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $53,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319,486 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,506,741 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,433,561,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peconic Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at $42,370,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.