Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF) were up 15% on Tuesday after B. Riley raised their price target on the stock from $10.00 to $11.00. B. Riley currently has a buy rating on the stock. Cleveland-Cliffs traded as high as $3.69 and last traded at $3.53, approximately 13,771,981 shares traded hands during mid-day trading. An increase of 11% from the average daily volume of 12,417,806 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.07.
Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Cfra restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (up from $9.00) on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. ValuEngine downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.25 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.69.
In related news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves purchased 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.49 per share, with a total value of $898,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,565,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,009,530.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John T. Baldwin purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $4.43 per share, for a total transaction of $44,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 133,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $592,410.61. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 240,000 shares of company stock worth $1,066,650 over the last ninety days. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,953 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 16,853 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 235.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,848 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 3,401 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 173.1% in the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 122,241 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $882,000 after buying an additional 77,484 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 38,868 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 31,803 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 14,968 shares in the last quarter. 84.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
The stock’s 50-day moving average is $5.87 and its 200-day moving average is $7.24. The stock has a market cap of $865.90 million, a P/E ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.91.
Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The mining company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 14.71% and a return on equity of 100.50%. The company had revenue of $534.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $549.75 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc will post 0.59 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Cleveland-Cliffs’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.43%.
Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile (NYSE:CLF)
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc operates as an iron ore mining company in the United States. The company operates four iron ore mines in Michigan and Minnesota. It sells its products to integrated steel companies and steel producers in the United States and the Asia Pacific. The company was formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc in August 2017.
