Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target Cut to $23.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its price target cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $24.00 to $23.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the mining company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CLF. Argus cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Wolfe Research reiterated an underperform rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. BNP Paribas cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $16.50 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $20.75.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

NYSE:CLF opened at $18.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.97 and its 200-day moving average is $19.00. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1-year low of $13.61 and a 1-year high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 1.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.11) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at $550,953.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Ron A. Bloom bought 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $550,953.04. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares in the company, valued at $10,793,917.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 6.7% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 325,637 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $7,405,000 after purchasing an additional 20,464 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the first quarter worth $1,557,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 38.0% during the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.1% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 143,400 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,261,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 4.7% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 340,624 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $7,746,000 after buying an additional 15,211 shares in the last quarter. 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.