POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?
by Kim Johansen · The Markets DailyShares of POSCO (NYSE:PKX – Get Free Report) 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.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
PKX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered POSCO from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of POSCO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of POSCO from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.
View Our Latest Stock Report on PKX
POSCO Stock Performance
The stock has a market capitalization of $16.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.42 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.30.
POSCO (NYSE:PKX – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $11.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.75 billion. POSCO had a return on equity of 1.34% and a net margin of 1.19%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that POSCO will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PKX. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of POSCO by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 850,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,251,000 after buying an additional 41,381 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in POSCO by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 549,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,051,000 after acquiring an additional 68,104 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in POSCO by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,117,000 after acquiring an additional 154,100 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in POSCO by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,577,000 after purchasing an additional 19,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of POSCO by 82.7% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 200,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,729,000 after purchasing an additional 90,777 shares in the last quarter.
About POSCO
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.