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. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CLF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $26.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 12th. B. Riley reduced their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 6th. Credit Suisse Group cut their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $37.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $43.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $16.00 to $14.50 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.92.
Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance
Shares of CLF Stock traded down $0.58 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $17.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 236,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,516,242. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $16.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.26. The company has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 2.24. Cleveland-Cliffs has a fifty-two week low of $14.31 and a fifty-two week high of $34.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.
Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 22nd. The mining company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.27). Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 64.45% and a net margin of 15.07%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs
In other news, CFO Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. bought 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.36 per share, for a total transaction of $96,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 148,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,870,797.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Douglas C. Taylor sold 28,150 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.12, for a total transaction of $650,828.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 156,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,238.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.36 per share, with a total value of $96,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 148,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,870,797.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.43% of the company's stock.