Cleveland-Cliffs’ (CLF) Buy Rating Reiterated at B. Riley

B. Riley reiterated their buy rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. B. Riley currently has a $23.00 target price on the mining company’s stock. B. Riley also issued estimates for Cleveland-Cliffs’ Q2 2024 earnings at ($0.01) EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.00 EPS and Q4 2024 earnings at $0.27 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CLF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Monday, May 20th. They set a buy rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an underperform rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $19.44.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

NYSE:CLF opened at $15.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.98. The company has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Cleveland-Cliffs has a twelve month low of $13.84 and a twelve month high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.11) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, April 22nd that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the mining company to repurchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves purchased 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.76 per share, with a total value of $1,005,600.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,759,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves bought 60,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,005,600.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,242,331.64. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.00 per share, with a total value of $425,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 59,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,018,300. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 98,950 shares of company stock worth $1,639,638 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Keynote Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the first quarter worth $404,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 247.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,885 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 40,118 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 50,839 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 11,021 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 316.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 318,990 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $7,254,000 after purchasing an additional 242,332 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is 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.