Barclays Upgrades Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) to “Strong Sell”

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) was upgraded by analysts at Barclays to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on CLF. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Glj Research reissued a “sell” rating and set a $9.42 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Monday, March 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $11.49.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

CLF stock opened at $11.19 on Thursday. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1 year low of $5.63 and a 1 year high of $16.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.32. The firm has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.78 and a beta of 2.00.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The mining company reported ($0.40) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.04. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 15.48% and a negative net margin of 6.42%.The company had revenue of $4.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.92) EPS. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,391,397 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $722,318,000 after purchasing an additional 6,447,462 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,278,156 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $388,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,632,150 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 572.4% in the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 18,083,029 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $240,143,000 after purchasing an additional 15,393,507 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 6.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,489,207 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $130,873,000 after purchasing an additional 925,031 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 90.1% in the fourth quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 12,358,230 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $164,117,000 after purchasing an additional 5,855,830 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is a leading North American producer of iron ore pellets and flat-rolled steel products. Tracing its roots to 1847, the company has evolved from an iron-ore mining concern in the Great Lakes region into a fully integrated steelmaker. Today, Cleveland-Cliffs operates iron ore mining complexes in Michigan and Minnesota as well as steelmaking and finishing facilities across the United States.

The company’s integrated platform begins with direct control of key raw materials, including iron ore and scrap, and extends through every stage of steel production.