Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target to $9.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its price objective decreased by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $12.00 to $9.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the mining company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 11.87% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. KeyCorp lowered Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $12.80 to $17.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.59.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLF traded down $0.14 on Thursday, reaching $8.05. 2,931,918 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,540,027. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76 and a beta of 1.99. Cleveland-Cliffs has a fifty-two week low of $5.63 and a fifty-two week high of $16.70. The business’s 50-day moving average is $11.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The mining company reported ($0.43) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.68) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Edilson Camara purchased 19,700 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.13 per share, for a total transaction of $199,561.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 41,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $425,287.79. The trade was a 88.41% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lourenco Goncalves sold 3,000,000 shares of the 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 572.4% in the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 18,083,029 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $240,143,000 after buying an additional 15,393,507 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,731,000. Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth about $96,280,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,391,397 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $722,318,000 after buying an additional 6,447,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,120,000. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.