POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $55.21, but opened at $58.77. POSCO shares last traded at $59.6250, with a volume of 46,877 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of POSCO in a report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, POSCO has an average rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.76 billion, a PE ratio of 80.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.49.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $12.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.41 billion. POSCO had a return on equity of 0.74% and a net margin of 0.64%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that POSCO will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of POSCO

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PKX. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in POSCO by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 17,143 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 4,727 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its holdings in POSCO by 156.9% in the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 22,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 13,620 shares during the last quarter. Tuttle Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of POSCO during the fourth quarter valued at $475,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in POSCO by 51.6% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC grew its holdings in shares of POSCO by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718 shares during the period.

POSCO Company Profile

POSCO (NYSE: PKX) is a South Korea–based integrated steel producer founded in 1968 as Pohang Iron and Steel Company. Headquartered in Pohang, the company grew rapidly as part of South Korea’s industrialization program and developed large, integrated steelworks—most notably in Pohang and Gwangyang—that helped establish POSCO among the world’s largest steelmakers. It is structured as a diversified industrial group with steelmaking at its core and a range of downstream and trading businesses.

The company’s primary activities include ironmaking and steelmaking, producing a wide array of steel products such as hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheets, coated steels, plates, stainless and special steels, long products (bars and wire rods), and seamless pipes.