Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

CLF has been the topic of a number of other reports. BNP Paribas cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Argus cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.92.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Down 1.8 %

Cleveland-Cliffs stock traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $20.83. 8,341,023 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,399,602. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.89. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12 month low of $13.61 and a 12 month high of $22.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.85. The company has a market cap of $9.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.03.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The mining company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.05). Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.81% and a return on equity of 6.79%. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.30) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $3,778,275.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,699,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,494,606.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $3,778,275.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,699,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,494,606.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were acquired 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 in the company, valued at approximately $550,953.04. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688 in the last three months. 1.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 514,890 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $8,048,000 after purchasing an additional 120,540 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 240.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,988,689 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $31,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,491 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 55.5% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,743,513 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $27,251,000 after purchasing an additional 621,937 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,970,000. Finally, Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,908,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.