Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Up 23.4% - Time to Buy?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 23.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $7.52 and last traded at $7.20. 61,639,197 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 277% from the average session volume of 16,364,444 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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. Glj Research cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating and set a $3.91 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 target price (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.74.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of -7.79 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm's 50 day moving average is $7.45 and its 200 day moving average is $9.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs's quarterly revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP James D. Graham sold 120,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.85, for a total transaction of $822,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 492,249 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,905.65. This trade represents a 19.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John T. Baldwin purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.70 per share, for a total transaction of $34,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at $1,159,074.90. This represents a 3.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 138,553 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $1,302,000 after buying an additional 29,532 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 121.5% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,501,297 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $14,112,000 after acquiring an additional 823,562 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,201,661 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $11,296,000 after purchasing an additional 20,024 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 184,438 shares of the mining company's stock worth $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 3,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 33.2% in the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 134,814 shares of the mining company's stock worth $1,267,000 after buying an additional 33,637 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.