Morgan Stanley Cuts Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target to $19.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the mining company’s stock.

CLF has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Argus lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a b- rating to a c rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, B. Riley decreased their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $20.42.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Up 1.9 %

CLF opened at $17.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 2.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.07. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1-year low of $13.61 and a 1-year high of $22.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.11) EPS. Analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, April 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the mining company to purchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $553,811.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 534,617 shares in the company, valued at $10,793,917.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arlene M. Yocum bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.02 per share, for a total transaction of $40,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 94,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,899,637.74. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $553,811.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,793,917.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 87,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,640 and sold 221,066 shares valued at $4,464,688. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 11.1% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 28,716 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $653,000 after acquiring an additional 2,874 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 1st quarter worth $1,687,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.3% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,037 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 22.9% in the first quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 12,900 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the first quarter worth about $799,000. 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.