Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Up 3% – Should You Buy?

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s stock price shot up 3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $9.64 and last traded at $9.57. 4,846,936 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 12,774,881 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.29.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Up 2.4 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of -9.64 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, EVP Keith Koci purchased 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.81 per share, with a total value of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,874,964.75. This represents a 1.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jane M. Cronin purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $10.56 per share, for a total transaction of $105,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $258,952.32. The trade was a 68.86 % increase in their position. 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 Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,556,332 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 21,247,426 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $199,724,000 after acquiring an additional 647,282 shares during the last quarter. Slate Path Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $152,355,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,466,747 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $79,611,000 after acquiring an additional 264,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,382,769 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $69,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,247 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.