Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Up 9.5% – Time to Buy?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) shot up 9.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $11.03 and last traded at $11.1730. 15,987,714 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 25,864,279 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CLF shares. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.50 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $14.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.68.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.24 and a beta of 2.07.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The mining company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by $0.03. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 9.00%.The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.33) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 4,315.6% during the third quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,942 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the second quarter worth $27,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 131.3% during the 2nd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 72.6% in the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,768 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.