Morgan Stanley Cuts Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target to $19.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the mining company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 13.81% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. B. Riley cut their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.42.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $16.70 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12-month low of $13.61 and a 12-month high of $22.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.11) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves acquired 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,005,600.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares in the company, valued at $46,242,331.64. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $10,793,917.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves acquired 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.76 per share, with a total value of $1,005,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,759,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 87,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,640 and sold 221,066 shares valued at $4,464,688. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLF. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at $117,585,000. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT boosted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 4,037,507 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $82,446,000 after buying an additional 334,739 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,542,004 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $72,328,000 after buying an additional 194,948 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 9.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,735,603 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,757,000 after buying an additional 236,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 154.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,472 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $40,181,000 after buying an additional 1,568,961 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.