StockNews.com Upgrades Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Argus lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wolfe Research reiterated an underperform rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a b- rating to a c rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $16.50 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $19.92.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CLF opened at $20.81 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.95 and a 200-day moving average of $18.94. The firm has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs has a twelve month low of $13.61 and a twelve month high of $22.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The mining company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.05). Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.81% and a return on equity of 6.79%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.30) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total value of $132,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 directly owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arlene M. Yocum purchased 2,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.02 per share, with a total value of $40,040.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 94,887 shares in the company, valued at $1,899,637.74. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688. 1.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 56,453,183 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,034,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,041,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,757,539 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $616,355,000 after acquiring an additional 387,794 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,000,065 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $322,771,000 after acquiring an additional 3,295,448 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,476,201 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $136,853,000 after acquiring an additional 150,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,855,860 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $110,448,000 after acquiring an additional 98,117 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by 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.