Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) to Post Q4 2024 Earnings of $0.42 Per Share, B. Riley Forecasts

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) – Equities research analysts at B. Riley reduced their Q4 2024 earnings per share estimates for Cleveland-Cliffs in a report issued on Tuesday, April 30th. B. Riley analyst L. Pipes now expects that the mining company will post earnings per share of $0.42 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.55. B. Riley currently has a “Buy” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cleveland-Cliffs’ current full-year earnings is $1.56 per share.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Argus lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.42.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $16.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 22.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.08. Cleveland-Cliffs has a one year low of $13.61 and a one year high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.11) earnings per share.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mission Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 1st quarter worth about $718,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 24,575 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 47.9% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 934,904 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $21,260,000 after acquiring an additional 302,591 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900,398 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $43,215,000 after acquiring an additional 47,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,931,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $3,778,275.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,699,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,494,606.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 187,136 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $3,778,275.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,699,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,494,606.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, April 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the mining company to repurchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.