The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target to $15.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the mining company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 49.63% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Glj Research lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 5.9 %

CLF opened at $10.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.59. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of -10.34 and a beta of 1.96. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1 year low of $8.99 and a 1 year high of $22.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Keith Koci purchased 9,500 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.81 per share, with a total value of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at $5,874,964.75. The trade was a 1.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin purchased 10,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.56 per share, with a total value of $105,600.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 24,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,952.32. This trade represents a 68.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $458,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556,332 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.7% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,893,879 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $330,665,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,651 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 21,247,426 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $199,724,000 after acquiring an additional 647,282 shares in the last quarter. Slate Path Capital LP raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Slate Path Capital LP now owns 16,208,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $152,355,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,466,747 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $79,611,000 after acquiring an additional 264,078 shares in 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.