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

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

CLF has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an underperform rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Argus lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.92.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $20.81 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.91. 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 has a 1-year low of $13.61 and a 1-year high of $22.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.03.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The mining company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.30) earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Ron A. Bloom bought 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.24 per share, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $550,953.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $550,953.04. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $553,811.70. Following 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 a total of 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,053 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 27,337 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 216,359 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $4,249,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during 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.