B. Riley Trims Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Target Price to $24.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its target price dropped by investment analysts at B. Riley from $25.00 to $24.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the mining company’s stock. B. Riley’s target price points to a potential upside of 43.76% from the stock’s previous close. B. Riley also issued estimates for Cleveland-Cliffs’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.42 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.42.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Down 1.2 %

Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $16.70 on Tuesday. Cleveland-Cliffs has a twelve month low of $13.61 and a twelve month high of $22.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $20.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.08. The company has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.11) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, April 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the mining company to repurchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $553,811.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves acquired 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,005,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $553,811.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 534,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 87,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,640 and sold 221,066 shares valued at $4,464,688. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CLF. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,571 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 2,858.0% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.