Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Releases Earnings Results

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The mining company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.11) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

Shares of CLF traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $17.76. The company had a trading volume of 2,028,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,667,340. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.03. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 12-month low of $13.61 and a 12-month high of $22.97.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.24 per share, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $550,953.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $553,811.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ron A. Bloom bought 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $550,953.04. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688 in the last 90 days. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Argus cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Cleveland-Cliffs declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, April 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.