Glj Research Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Glj Research in a research note issued on Friday, September 18th, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $15.60 price objective on the mining company’s stock. Glj Research’s target price indicates a potential upside of 28.27% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. UBS Group set a $13.00 price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $12.50 price objective (up from $12.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.25.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Down 2.7%

CLF traded down $0.34 on Friday, reaching $12.16. 9,076,737 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,558,303. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $11.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.85. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52-week low of $7.73 and a 52-week high of $16.70. The company has a market cap of $6.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.51 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The mining company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a negative return on equity of 13.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.50) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CLF. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $522,766,000. Castle Hook Partners LP increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 572.4% during the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 18,083,029 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $240,143,000 after purchasing an additional 15,393,507 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 6.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,489,207 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $130,873,000 after purchasing an additional 925,031 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,039,851 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $133,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,042 shares during the period. Finally, Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth approximately $96,280,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is a vertically integrated steel producer headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. The company mines and processes iron ore, produces iron ore pellets, and manufactures steel products for customers primarily in North America. Its operations include integrated steel mills, electric arc furnaces, finishing facilities, and related processing and distribution capabilities.

The company produces a broad range of flat-rolled carbon steel products, including hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated steel.