Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its price objective reduced by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $12.00 to $9.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the mining company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.37% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on CLF. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $12.80 to $17.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.59.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 4.6%

NYSE CLF opened at $7.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a PE ratio of -2.67 and a beta of 1.99. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1-year low of $5.63 and a 1-year high of $16.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $11.74 and a 200-day moving average of $12.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The mining company reported ($0.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 18.94% and a negative net margin of 7.91%.Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.68) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, Director Edilson Camara acquired 19,700 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.13 per share, with a total value of $199,561.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 41,983 shares in the company, valued at $425,287.79. This trade represents a 88.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Clifford T. Smith sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.46, for a total transaction of $2,092,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 560,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,863,133.34. This trade represents a 26.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 572.4% in the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 18,083,029 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $240,143,000 after buying an additional 15,393,507 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,731,000. Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth approximately $96,280,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,391,397 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $722,318,000 after acquiring an additional 6,447,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter worth about $44,120,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is a leading North American producer of iron ore pellets and flat-rolled steel products. Tracing its roots to 1847, the company has evolved from an iron-ore mining concern in the Great Lakes region into a fully integrated steelmaker. Today, Cleveland-Cliffs operates iron ore mining complexes in Michigan and Minnesota as well as steelmaking and finishing facilities across the United States.

The company’s integrated platform begins with direct control of key raw materials, including iron ore and scrap, and extends through every stage of steel production.