Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target Cut to $24.00 by Analysts at B. Riley

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its target price cut by B. Riley from $25.00 to $24.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the mining company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $16.50 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $20.42.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

CLF opened at $16.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 22.82, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs has a twelve month low of $13.61 and a twelve month high of $22.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $20.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.11) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arlene M. Yocum purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.02 per share, for a total transaction of $40,040.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 94,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,899,637.74. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter valued at $117,585,000. Peconic Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter valued at $42,370,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 154.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,472 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $40,181,000 after buying an additional 1,568,961 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 240.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,988,689 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $31,083,000 after buying an additional 1,404,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter valued at $27,928,000. 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.