Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Down 8.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s share price traded down 8.9% during trading on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $17.00 to $15.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Cleveland-Cliffs traded as low as $9.22 and last traded at $9.20. 8,008,598 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 16,664,221 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.09.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CLF. Glj Research cut their target price 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, B. Riley restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Keith Koci bought 9,500 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.81 per share, with a total value of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at $5,874,964.75. This trade represents a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.56 per share, with a total value of $105,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 24,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,952.32. This represents a 68.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 299.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Estabrook Capital Management raised its stake in 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. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.58 and a beta of 1.96. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.63.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The firm 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

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.