Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $17.56.

A number of analysts have weighed in on CLF shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 11.5 %

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $11.61 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12-month low of $10.21 and a 12-month high of $22.97. The company has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.96 and a beta of 1.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.65.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.02). Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 0.21% and a return on equity of 4.94%. The business had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 54.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,906,597 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $244,794,000 after acquiring an additional 5,621,797 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,093,632 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $93,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,027,757 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1,893.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,227,848 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $156,800,000 after buying an additional 1,166,258 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 23.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,597,662 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $86,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069,907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 1,650.8% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 874,464 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $13,458,000 after acquiring an additional 824,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

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.