Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Sets New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $6.04 and last traded at $6.21, with a volume of 16456180 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $6.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Glj Research reduced their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.02.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of -6.65 and a beta of 2.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The mining company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, EVP Keith Koci bought 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. The trade was a 1.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.56 per share, with a total value of $105,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 24,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $258,952.32. This represents a 68.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095 over the last ninety days. 1.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Slate Path Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. Slate Path Capital LP now owns 16,208,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $152,355,000 after buying an additional 4,239,000 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,382,769 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $69,398,000 after buying an additional 1,236,247 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth $18,999,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $458,267,000 after buying an additional 2,556,332 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth $4,432,000. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

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.