Brokerages Set Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Target Price at $12.03

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $11.53.

Several research analysts recently commented on CLF shares. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $7.50 to $8.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Glj Research downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating and set a $3.91 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 4.7%

CLF opened at $6.99 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $7.41 and its 200-day moving average is $9.02. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52-week low of $5.63 and a 52-week high of $16.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.86 and a beta of 1.85.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The mining company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 12.84% and a negative net margin of 6.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. Analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James D. Graham sold 120,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.85, for a total value of $822,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 492,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,371,905.65. The trade was a 19.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,453,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,381,000. Slate Path Capital LP grew its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Slate Path Capital LP now owns 16,208,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $152,355,000 after buying an additional 4,239,000 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the first quarter worth $22,696,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $458,267,000 after buying an additional 2,556,332 shares during the period. 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.