Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Board of Directors Announces Stock Repurchase Program

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 22nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the mining company to reacquire up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of CLF stock traded down $0.24 on Wednesday, reaching $18.31. 14,390,401 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,757,485. The stock has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.00. Cleveland-Cliffs has a 1-year low of $13.61 and a 1-year high of $22.97.

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The mining company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Cleveland-Cliffs had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.11) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cleveland-Cliffs will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CLF shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Cleveland-Cliffs from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. BNP Paribas downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $16.50 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $553,811.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Arlene M. Yocum purchased 2,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.02 per share, with a total value of $40,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 94,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,899,637.74. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Terry G. Fedor sold 27,430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $553,811.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 534,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,793,917.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 221,066 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,688 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.76% 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.