The Goldman Sachs Group Begins Coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)

Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price target on the mining company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 24.03% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on CLF. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.39.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CLF opened at $12.90 on Monday. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1 year low of $10.21 and a 1 year high of $22.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.71 and a 200 day moving average of $13.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.02). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. The business had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 299.8% during the third quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,490 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Gradient Investments LLC grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 138.8% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.