Glj Research Reiterates Sell Rating for Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Glj Research in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $9.42 price objective on the mining company’s stock. Glj Research’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.28% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. KeyCorp lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $12.80 to $17.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, February 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.89.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock opened at $8.47 on Monday. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52 week low of $5.63 and a 52 week high of $16.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $12.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.29. The company has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of -2.90 and a beta of 1.99.

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

Insider Activity

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, COO Clifford T. Smith sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.46, for a total transaction of $2,092,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 560,529 shares in the company, valued at $5,863,133.34. This represents a 26.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 3,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.42, for a total value of $37,260,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,447,462 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,278,156 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $388,814,000 after acquiring an additional 3,632,150 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 572.4% in the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 18,083,029 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $240,143,000 after acquiring an additional 15,393,507 shares during the period. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 90.1% during the fourth quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 12,358,230 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $164,117,000 after acquiring an additional 5,855,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,039,851 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $133,372,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286,042 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

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.