Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Upgraded by Seaport Res Ptn to Strong-Buy

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Cleveland-Cliffs’ FY2024 earnings at $0.07 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.31 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $0.98 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.50 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Monday, May 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $23.00 to $17.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.94.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLF opened at $14.05 on Tuesday. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52 week low of $12.39 and a 52 week high of $22.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company’s fifty day moving average is $14.53 and its 200 day moving average is $17.52. The stock has a market cap of $6.68 billion, a PE ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.03.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 0.21% and a return on equity of 4.94%. The company had revenue of $5.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cleveland-Cliffs

In related news, Director Ben Oren acquired 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.99 per share, for a total transaction of $100,433.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,363.33. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Celso L. Goncalves, Jr. purchased 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $14.98 per share, for a total transaction of $108,605.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 314,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,709,142.76. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ben Oren acquired 6,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $14.99 per share, with a total value of $100,433.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 14,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $212,363.33. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth $117,585,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 54.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,906,597 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $244,794,000 after purchasing an additional 5,621,797 shares in the last quarter. Peconic Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,370,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,093,632 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $93,172,000 after buying an additional 2,027,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,937,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Company Profile

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.