StockNews.com Begins Coverage on United States Steel (NYSE:X)

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of United States Steel (NYSE:X) in a research report released on Sunday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

X has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley lowered United States Steel from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded United States Steel from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on United States Steel from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on United States Steel in a research report on Friday, January 12th. They issued a neutral rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $37.89.

United States Steel Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of United States Steel stock opened at $37.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.37. The company has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 2.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. United States Steel has a 1 year low of $20.40 and a 1 year high of $50.20.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.46. United States Steel had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 4.96%. The company had revenue of $4.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that United States Steel will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United States Steel Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. United States Steel’s dividend payout ratio is 5.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United States Steel

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in United States Steel by 44.5% in the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,957 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in United States Steel by 2.9% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 64,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new position in United States Steel in the first quarter worth $50,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in United States Steel by 1,140.0% in the first quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of United States Steel by 2.6% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 54,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.92% of the company’s stock.

About United States Steel

United States Steel Corporation produces and sells flat-rolled and tubular steel products primarily in North America and Europe. The company operates through North American Flat-Rolled (Flat-Rolled), Mini Mill, U. S. Steel Europe (USSE), and Tubular Products (Tubular) segments. The Flat-Rolled segment offers slabs, strip mill plates, sheets, and tin mill products, as well as iron ore and coke.