Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on CLF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.75.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of CLF opened at $17.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $20.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.00. Cleveland-Cliffs has a fifty-two week low of $13.61 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market cap of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 2.03.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.11) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the mining company to repurchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $3,778,275.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,699,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,494,606.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,841,834.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688 in the last three months. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 3,711 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 4.5% during 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 lifted its stake 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 worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.