Morgan Stanley Cuts Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target to $19.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its price target reduced by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the mining company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 10.92% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CLF. Argus cut Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. TheStreet lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, B. Riley cut their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.42.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

CLF traded down $0.93 on Tuesday, hitting $17.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,337,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,797,296. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12 month low of $13.61 and a 12 month high of $22.97. The firm has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 2.03. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.07.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.11) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the mining company to buy up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arlene M. Yocum bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.02 per share, for a total transaction of $40,040.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 94,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,899,637.74. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 90,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,841,834.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arlene M. Yocum purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.02 per share, with a total value of $40,040.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 94,887 shares in the company, valued at $1,899,637.74. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth about $117,585,000. Peconic Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth $42,370,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 154.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,472 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $40,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,961 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 240.4% during the third 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 period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,928,000. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.