Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its target price reduced by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $13.00 to $11.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the mining company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 4.61% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price target on the stock. Glj Research raised Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.27 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.68.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of CLF opened at $10.52 on Monday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.02. Cleveland-Cliffs has a fifty-two week low of $8.99 and a fifty-two week high of $22.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of -10.84 and a beta of 1.96.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 105.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 262,771 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,429,000 after buying an additional 134,939 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter worth about $18,999,000. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 58.5% in the third quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 133,717 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 49,359 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 987.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 207,000 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,644,000 after purchasing an additional 187,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $22,122,000. Hedge funds and other 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.