Cleveland-Cliffs’ (CLF) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $20.00 target price on the mining company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on CLF. TheStreet cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a b- rating to a c rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $16.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Argus cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $20.30.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

NYSE CLF opened at $22.74 on Tuesday. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52 week low of $13.61 and a 52 week high of $22.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.13.

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 net margin of 1.81% and a return on equity of 6.79%. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.30) EPS. Cleveland-Cliffs’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.24 per share, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at $550,953.04. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $553,811.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 534,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ron A. Bloom bought 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at $550,953.04. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 30.6% in the 3rd 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 raised its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 240.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,988,689 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $31,083,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,491 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter worth approximately $4,970,000. Finally, Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter worth approximately $3,908,000. 67.68% of the stock is currently 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.