Brokerages Set Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Target Price at $17.22

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.22.

Several research firms have commented on CLF. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup cut their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $16.00 target price for the company.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Cleveland-Cliffs stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $9.35. 11,458,226 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,807,979. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.10. 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 has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.64 and a beta of 1.93. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12-month low of $9.13 and a 12-month high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.72 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The company's revenue was down 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLF. Altus Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 7.2% in the third quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 11,900 shares of the mining company's stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 13,066 shares of the mining company's stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 16.2% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,428 shares of the mining company's stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 40,408 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 1,237 shares during the period. Finally, Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.2% during the second quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,375 shares of the mining company's stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares during the period. 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.