Wall Street Zen Upgrades Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) to “Hold”

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CLF. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $12.80 to $17.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. KeyCorp cut Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $14.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.89.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLF opened at $10.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.55 and a beta of 1.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.27. Cleveland-Cliffs has a fifty-two week low of $5.63 and a fifty-two week high of $16.70.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The mining company reported ($0.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.19. Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 7.91% and a negative return on equity of 18.94%. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.68) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 3,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.42, for a total transaction of $37,260,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Edilson Camara bought 19,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.13 per share, for a total transaction of $199,561.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 41,983 shares in the company, valued at $425,287.79. This trade represents a 88.41% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,391,397 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $722,318,000 after acquiring an additional 6,447,462 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,278,156 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $388,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,632,150 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,039,851 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $133,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,042 shares during the period. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,731,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 8,010,913 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $97,733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,035 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Cleveland-Cliffs

Here are the key news stories impacting Cleveland-Cliffs this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director purchase: Cleveland?Cliffs director Edilson Camara bought 19,700 shares (~$10.13 avg), increasing his stake materially — a signal of insider confidence that can support the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity: traders bought ~53,775 CLF calls (?6% above average call volume), indicating short?term bullish positioning by some market participants. (Options volume report)
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 EPS beat and management tone: the company narrowly beat EPS estimates and gave a constructive 2026 outlook (cost discipline, steady capex, modest shipment growth), which remains a potential upside driver if volumes/pricing recover. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and analysis pieces: several writeups examine CLF’s post?2025 loss valuation and whether the share drop is overdone — useful for investors assessing risk/reward but not immediate catalysts. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Tariff?rollback reports: media reports that the administration is considering rolling back steel/aluminum tariffs hit domestic steel names (Nucor, CLF, Alcoa), pressuring prices and investor sentiment for Cleveland?Cliffs. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sale: CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 3,000,000 shares (~$37.3M at ~$12.42), a significant block that likely added to downward pressure and investor concern about timing/intent. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst and sentiment pressure: GLJ Research and other commentators have issued bearish takes or cut targets after the earnings/revenue miss; combined with ambiguity on the POSCO partnership, that reduced near?term catalysts and amplified selling. Read More. Read More.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is a leading North American producer of iron ore pellets and flat-rolled steel products. Tracing its roots to 1847, the company has evolved from an iron-ore mining concern in the Great Lakes region into a fully integrated steelmaker. Today, Cleveland-Cliffs operates iron ore mining complexes in Michigan and Minnesota as well as steelmaking and finishing facilities across the United States.

The company’s integrated platform begins with direct control of key raw materials, including iron ore and scrap, and extends through every stage of steel production.