Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Up 1.9% – Still a Buy?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) traded up 1.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $9.84 and last traded at $9.60. 4,362,609 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 12,714,486 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CLF. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Glj Research lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Up 1.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.70 and a beta of 1.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.26.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director John T. Baldwin acquired 4,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.70 per share, with a total value of $34,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,159,074.90. The trade was a 3.10 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Keith Koci bought 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. This represents a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter worth $34,000. Estabrook Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 207.7% during the fourth quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 4,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 130.0% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,600 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.