Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) released its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.11) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CLF traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $17.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,028,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,667,340. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $20.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.00. Cleveland-Cliffs has a fifty-two week low of $13.61 and a fifty-two week high of $22.97.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. 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. BNP Paribas lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. TheStreet lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.75.

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the mining company to purchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $3,778,275.84. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $3,778,275.84. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the business’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 $553,811.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,793,917.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688 in the last ninety days. 1.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

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.