Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Receives $11.49 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.9920.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CLF shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $16.80 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. KeyCorp started coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Friday, April 24th.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, EVP Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. sold 214,308 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.41, for a total transaction of $2,873,870.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 184,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,474,708.22. The trade was a 53.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.95% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 281.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,308,271 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $28,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703,791 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp. lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 47.0% in the fourth quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 474,862 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $6,306,000 after acquiring an additional 151,868 shares during the period. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,932,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,171,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 17.5% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 8,010,913 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $97,733,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,035 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of CLF stock opened at $12.65 on Thursday. Cleveland-Cliffs has a fifty-two week low of $6.72 and a fifty-two week high of $16.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.41 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.52.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The mining company reported ($0.40) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.04. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 15.48% and a negative net margin of 6.42%.The business had revenue of $4.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.92) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is a leading North American producer of iron ore pellets and flat-rolled steel products. Tracing its roots to 1847, the company has evolved from an iron-ore mining concern in the Great Lakes region into a fully integrated steelmaker. Today, Cleveland-Cliffs operates iron ore mining complexes in Michigan and Minnesota as well as steelmaking and finishing facilities across the United States.

The company’s integrated platform begins with direct control of key raw materials, including iron ore and scrap, and extends through every stage of steel production.