Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Trading Up 5.6% – Still a Buy?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s stock price rose 5.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $10.52 and last traded at $10.45. 5,197,359 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 13,202,906 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.90.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CLF shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Glj Research upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.27 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.93.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.85. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.75. The stock has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.03 and a beta of 1.97.

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

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1,190.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,330 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 4,917 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 105.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 262,771 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,429,000 after purchasing an additional 134,939 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter worth about $64,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at about $1,222,000. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,444,000. 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.