Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $19.79.

CLF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $17.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Ben Oren purchased 6,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $14.99 per share, with a total value of $100,433.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $212,363.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Ben Oren acquired 6,700 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.99 per share, with a total value of $100,433.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,167 shares in the company, valued at $212,363.33. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves acquired 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.76 per share, with a total value of $1,005,600.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,759,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 98,950 shares of company stock valued at $1,639,638 in the last three months. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 83.7% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,571 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 2,858.0% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares in the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 50.3% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,850 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLF opened at $14.91 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 2.08. Cleveland-Cliffs has a one year low of $13.84 and a one year high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.11) earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.