Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $7.50 to $8.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the mining company's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.44% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on CLF. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $17.00 target price (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.25 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Glj Research cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating and set a $3.91 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $11.53.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of CLF traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $6.93. The company had a trading volume of 28,710,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,374,557. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.84 and a beta of 1.85. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52-week low of $5.63 and a 52-week high of $16.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $7.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The mining company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.78) by ($0.14). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 12.84% and a negative net margin of 6.35%. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, EVP James D. Graham sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.85, for a total value of $822,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 492,249 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,905.65. This represents a 19.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Slate Path Capital LP grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,239,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,298,868 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $12,209,000 after buying an additional 242,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,432,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company's stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

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.