Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target Cut to $18.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its price objective lowered by research analysts at Bank of America from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the mining company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 19.96% from the company’s previous close.

CLF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. BNP Paribas downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.44.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

CLF stock opened at $15.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52-week low of $13.84 and a 52-week high of $22.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $16.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.98. The company has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.08.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.11) earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the mining company to buy up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves purchased 60,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,005,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,759,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, CFO Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. purchased 7,250 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.98 per share, for a total transaction of $108,605.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 314,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,709,142.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves acquired 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,005,600.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,759,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,242,331.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 98,950 shares of company stock worth $1,639,638. 1.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,792,850 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $28,022,000 after buying an additional 57,398 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.0% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 483,676 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $7,560,000 after purchasing an additional 14,030 shares during the period. Mariner LLC raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 37.2% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 43,582 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 11,807 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 12.6% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 83,605 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.