Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Sets New 12-Month High at $22.22

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $22.22 and last traded at $22.14, with a volume of 2651832 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.30.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Up 2.4 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.01. The firm has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The mining company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.05). Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 1.81%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.30) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ron A. Bloom acquired 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $550,953.04. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 30.6% in the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 514,890 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $8,048,000 after purchasing an additional 120,540 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 240.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,988,689 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $31,083,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,491 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 55.5% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,743,513 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $27,251,000 after acquiring an additional 621,937 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter valued at about $4,970,000. Finally, Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the third quarter worth about $3,908,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by 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.