StockNews.com Downgrades Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Argus downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a b- rating to a c rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $20.75.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of CLF stock opened at $17.88 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs has a one year low of $13.61 and a one year high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.11) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, April 22nd that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total value of $132,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $3,778,275.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,699,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,494,606.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688 over the last 90 days. 1.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth about $117,585,000. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 4,037,507 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $82,446,000 after buying an additional 334,739 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,542,004 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $72,328,000 after buying an additional 194,948 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 9.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,735,603 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,757,000 after buying an additional 236,274 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 154.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,472 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $40,181,000 after buying an additional 1,568,961 shares during the period. 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.