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

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eleven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $11.86.

CLF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.00 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Argus raised Cleveland-Cliffs to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, July 21st.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

NYSE:CLF opened at $11.97 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.36 and a 200-day moving average of $11.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.39 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Cleveland-Cliffs has a twelve month low of $7.73 and a twelve month high of $16.70.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The mining company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a negative return on equity of 13.37%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.50) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, EVP Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. sold 214,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.41, for a total transaction of $2,873,870.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 184,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,474,708.22. This represents a 53.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the first quarter valued at about $339,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 27.4% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 49,955 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 10,733 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 143,264 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 6,073 shares during the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 22,167 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 7,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,081,241 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $23,417,000 after acquiring an additional 520,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

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.