Morgan Stanley Cuts Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Price Target to $11.00

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $13.00 to $11.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the mining company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on CLF. StockNews.com downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Glj Research raised Cleveland-Cliffs from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.27 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.68.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CLF opened at $10.44 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.76 and a beta of 1.96. Cleveland-Cliffs has a one year low of $8.99 and a one year high of $22.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.02). Cleveland-Cliffs had a negative net margin of 2.31% and a negative return on equity of 0.59%. The business had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Cleveland-Cliffs will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Cleveland-Cliffs

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CLF. Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs during the 4th quarter worth $168,000. Keynote Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 92.7% during the fourth quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 44,492 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $418,000 after acquiring an additional 21,400 shares during the period. Terril Brothers Inc. boosted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Terril Brothers Inc. now owns 1,050,865 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $9,878,000 after acquiring an additional 15,395 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 255,704 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,404,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 98,462 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. 67.68% of the stock is 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.