POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

POSCO (NYSE:PKX)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $49.96, but opened at $53.38. POSCO shares last traded at $52.9960, with a volume of 215,367 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised POSCO from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered POSCO from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut POSCO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Stock Down 3.7%

The stock has a market cap of $15.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.38 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.06.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $11.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.75 billion. POSCO had a net margin of 1.19% and a return on equity of 1.34%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that POSCO will post 4.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new position in shares of POSCO during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Founders Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of POSCO by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of POSCO by 51.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of POSCO by 1,276.9% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of POSCO during the fourth quarter worth approximately $85,000.

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.