Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) downgraded to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF – Get Free Report) was downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. investment analysts. from “overweight” to “neutral” rating – according to Briefing.com. They currently have a $17.00 price target on shares of the mining company, up from their prior price target of $23.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Target Price would suggest a potential upside of 8.59% over the current share price.

Other analysts have also recently published reports on the company. Citigroup downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from “buy” to “neutral” and set a price target for the company at $22.00. in the research report dated Wednesday, March 13. BNP Paribas downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from “neutral” to “underperform” and set a price target for the company at $16.50. in the report dated Wednesday, February 28. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs on Tuesday, April 9. Ultimately, StockNews.com downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs stock from “buy” to “hold” in its report on Friday, April 26. Two equity analysts rated the company’s shares with a sell rating, five of them rated the company’s shares with a hold rating, and two with a buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.79.

See our latest research report on CLF

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

NYSE CLF shares opened at $15.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt to equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 2.08. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 52-week low of $13.84 and a 52-week high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The mining company observed EPS of $0.18 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs achieved a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The company’s quarterly revenues decreased by 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company saw EPS of ($0.11). Analysts predict that Cleveland-Cliffs will report earnings per share of 0.95 for the current fiscal year.

Cleveland-Cliffs said that on Monday, April 22, its board of directors approved a stock repurchase program that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion of outstanding shares. The buyout permit allows the mining company to acquire up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs are usually a sign that a company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Confidential activity

In related news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total transaction amount of $132,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,834.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Susan Miranda Green sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40 for a total value of $132,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 90,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,841,834.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Additionally, CEO Lourenco Goncalves acquired 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of USD 16.76 per share, for a total value of USD 1,005,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the CEO now owns 2,759,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,242,331.64. Information regarding this purchase can be found here. 1.76% of the shares are owned by company insiders.

Institutional inflows and outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs during the fourth quarter valued at $117,585,000. In the fourth quarter, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 9.0%. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 4,037,507 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $82,446,000 after purchasing an additional 334,739 shares in the last quarter. In the fourth quarter, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs stock by 5.8%. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,542,004 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $72,328,000 after purchasing an additional 194,948 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.8% during the first quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 3,374,716 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $76,741,000 after acquiring an additional 410,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 10.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,884,249 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $65,589,000 after purchasing an additional 275,265 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors hold 67.68% of the company’s shares.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

(Get the free report)

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest producer of flat-rolled steel and the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America. The company is vertically integrated, ranging from mining, through iron and steel, rolling, finishing, to hot and cold stamping of steel parts and components. The company was previously known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in August 2017.

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