Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Trading 7% Higher – Here’s Why

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s stock price traded up 7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $11.30 and last traded at $11.31. 8,210,020 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 16,482,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Glj Research cut their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $14.54 to $12.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.54.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.67. The company has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.03 and a beta of 1.96. 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 earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The mining company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLF. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 105.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 262,771 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,429,000 after acquiring an additional 134,939 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,999,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 987.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 207,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,644,000 after buying an additional 187,957 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in the third quarter valued at approximately $22,122,000. Finally, First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 206,750 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,640,000 after buying an additional 45,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.68% of the company’s stock.

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.