Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target Cut to $23.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its target price trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $24.00 to $23.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the mining company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research reissued an underperform rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised Cleveland-Cliffs from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, TheStreet cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a b- rating to a c rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $20.75.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 1.9 %

CLF opened at $17.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 2.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.00. Cleveland-Cliffs has a one year low of $13.61 and a one year high of $22.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.11) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, April 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $553,811.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 534,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLF. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 15,926 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 3,711 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,824 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 21,507 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 25,248 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 5,140 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

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.