Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.22.

CLF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 299.8% during the 3rd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter valued at $34,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 231.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 2,539 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of CLF opened at $9.30 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of -9.59 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $11.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.03. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52-week low of $8.99 and a 52-week high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.02). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. The company had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.