Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from eight brokerages, with one sell rating and three hold and buy ratings each.
• The company's stock opened at $9.41 and currently has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, with a recent price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76.
• Cleveland-Cliffs reported earnings of ($0.50) per share, beating analyst expectations, and its revenue increased by 7.5% year-over-year to $4.93 billion.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.0943.

CLF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $8.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.25 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. KeyCorp raised Cleveland-Cliffs from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $14.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $7.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $9.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76 and a beta of 1.99. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1-year low of $5.63 and a 1-year high of $14.34.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The mining company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.68) by $0.18. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 9.03% and a negative return on equity of 17.97%. The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, EVP James D. Graham sold 120,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.85, for a total transaction of $822,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 492,249 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,905.65. The trade was a 19.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 131.3% in the 2nd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,216 shares of the mining company's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 1,664 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is owned by 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.

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