Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.7689.

Several brokerages have weighed in on CLF. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Argus upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $16.80 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, COO Clifford T. Smith sold 200,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.46, for a total transaction of $2,092,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 560,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,863,133.34. The trade was a 26.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 0.9% during the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 99,649 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,216,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 0.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 152,009 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,855,000 after buying an additional 943 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.0% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 33,118 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 960 shares during the period. Whitcomb & Hess Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Whitcomb & Hess Inc. now owns 26,752 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 973 shares during the period. Finally, Rexford Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. now owns 9,500 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of CLF opened at $10.29 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.40 and a beta of 2.00. Cleveland-Cliffs has a twelve month low of $5.63 and a twelve month high of $16.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.41.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The mining company reported ($0.40) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.84 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 6.42% and a negative return on equity of 15.48%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.92) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is a leading North American producer of iron ore pellets and flat-rolled steel products. Tracing its roots to 1847, the company has evolved from an iron-ore mining concern in the Great Lakes region into a fully integrated steelmaker. Today, Cleveland-Cliffs operates iron ore mining complexes in Michigan and Minnesota as well as steelmaking and finishing facilities across the United States.

The company’s integrated platform begins with direct control of key raw materials, including iron ore and scrap, and extends through every stage of steel production.