Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Sets New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) hit a new 52-week low on Saturday . The company traded as low as $8.48 and last traded at $8.53, with a volume of 31119879 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.33.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on 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. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Glj Research cut their target price 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, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.79 and a beta of 1.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.21. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, Director Jane M. Cronin bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.56 per share, for a total transaction of $105,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 24,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,952.32. This trade represents a 68.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Baldwin purchased 4,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.70 per share, for a total transaction of $34,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at $1,159,074.90. This trade represents a 3.10 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $243,095 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth about $55,453,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the fourth quarter worth about $45,381,000. Slate Path Capital LP boosted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 35.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,239,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.5% during the 4th 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. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 232.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,113,337 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $39,757,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,837 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.