POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade
by Amy Steele · The Cerbat GemPOSCO (NYSE:PKX – Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after UBS Group upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The company traded as high as $72.05 and last traded at $71.4610, with a volume of 7690 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.15.
Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PKX. Weiss Ratings raised shares of POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, POSCO has an average rating of “Hold”.
Read Our Latest Research Report on PKX
Institutional Trading of POSCO
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PKX. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of POSCO in the third quarter valued at about $8,851,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in POSCO during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,223,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in POSCO by 57.3% during 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. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in POSCO by 135.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 199,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,637,000 after acquiring an additional 115,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in POSCO by 14.1% during 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.
POSCO Price Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.47 billion, a PE ratio of 53.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.43.
POSCO (NYSE:PKX – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.61) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($1.06). POSCO had a net margin of 0.97% and a return on equity of 1.09%. The business had revenue of $10.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.85 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that POSCO will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.
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.