Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Up 7.4% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) shot up 7.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.65 and last traded at $9.68. 8,827,248 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 17,959,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.02.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Glj Research cut their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.09 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.03). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative return on equity of 0.59% and a negative net margin of 2.31%. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other news, EVP Keith Koci acquired 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $102,695.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 543,475 shares in the company, valued at $5,874,964.75. The trade was a 1.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John T. Baldwin bought 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.70 per share, for a total transaction of $34,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 133,227 shares in the company, valued at $1,159,074.90. This represents a 3.10 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 23,500 shares of company stock worth $243,095 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 6.6% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 28,752 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 1,789 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 295.9% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 205,461 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 153,560 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the 3rd quarter valued at $263,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 71.2% in the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 34,140 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 14,200 shares during the period. Finally, Archer Investment Corp boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 25.8% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 7,799 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

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.