Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Up 6.8% - Should You Buy?

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) shot up 6.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $8.70 and last traded at $8.65. 17,917,375 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 34% from the average session volume of 13,383,220 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.10.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CLF. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Glj Research reduced their price target 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 lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $16.43.

Remove Ads

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.13 and a beta of 1.94. The stock's fifty day moving average is $10.04 and its 200-day moving average is $11.09.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John T. Baldwin bought 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.70 per share, with a total value of $34,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at $1,159,074.90. This represents a 3.10 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Keith Koci purchased 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. This trade represents a 1.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095. Insiders own 1.76% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $458,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556,332 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 21,247,426 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $199,724,000 after buying an additional 647,282 shares in the last quarter. Slate Path Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Slate Path Capital LP now owns 16,208,000 shares of the mining company's stock worth $152,355,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,466,747 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $79,611,000 after acquiring an additional 264,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,382,769 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $69,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,247 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company's stock.

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.