Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Stock Price Down 5% on Analyst Downgrade

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s stock price fell 5% during trading on Wednesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $18.00 to $12.50. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Cleveland-Cliffs traded as low as $10.34 and last traded at $10.36. 3,839,346 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 9,427,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.91.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CLF. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $17.50 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,010,000. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.1% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 355,171 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $5,466,000 after acquiring an additional 3,939 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 39.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 118,761 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,828,000 after acquiring an additional 33,415 shares in the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 106,504 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,639,000 after buying an additional 12,908 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the second quarter valued at approximately $552,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96, a P/E/G ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 4.94% and a net margin of 0.21%. The business had revenue of $5.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. Cleveland-Cliffs’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.