Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF – Get Rating) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.11.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group began coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Friday, December 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Cleveland-Cliffs from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, Director Douglas C. Taylor sold 42,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.25, for a total transaction of $892,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 118,469 shares in the company, valued at $2,517,466.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Douglas C. Taylor sold 42,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.25, for a total value of $892,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 118,469 shares in the company, valued at $2,517,466.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 8,700 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total value of $197,142.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 87,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,979,418.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 36,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 22,000 shares during the period. OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 18,143 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 86,120 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,388,000 after buying an additional 9,500 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 69,911 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,126,000 after acquiring an additional 3,898 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

CLF opened at $17.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.02 and a beta of 2.25. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12 month low of $11.82 and a 12 month high of $34.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.11.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 13th. The mining company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 22.07% and a net margin of 5.81%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

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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.