Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Trading Up 7.4% – Time to Buy?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s stock price rose 7.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $9.65 and last traded at $9.68. Approximately 8,827,248 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 17,959,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.02.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CLF has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Glj Research lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 9.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $10.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.09 and a beta of 1.94.

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

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, EVP Keith Koci purchased 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.81 per share, with a total value of $102,695.00. Following the transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.56 per share, with a total value of $105,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter valued at $55,453,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,381,000. Slate Path Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. Slate Path Capital LP now owns 16,208,000 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $152,355,000 after purchasing an additional 4,239,000 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,893,879 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $330,665,000 after buying an additional 3,110,651 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,751,789 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $458,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556,332 shares in the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is 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.