Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.43.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CLF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Glj Research lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

CLF traded up $0.69 on Tuesday, hitting $10.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,264,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,583,434. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12 month low of $8.50 and a 12 month high of $22.97. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.74 and a beta of 1.94. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $10.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.45.

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Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last posted 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). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. Analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jane M. Cronin purchased 10,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.56 per share, for a total transaction of $105,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,522 shares in the company, valued at $258,952.32. The trade was a 68.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Keith Koci acquired 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.81 per share, with a total value of $102,695.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. The trade was a 1.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 6.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 28,752 shares of the mining company's stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 295.9% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 205,461 shares of the mining company's stock worth $2,624,000 after buying an additional 153,560 shares during the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 71.2% during the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 34,140 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 14,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 25.8% in the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 7,799 shares of the mining company's stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company's stock.

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.