POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Shares of POSCO (NYSE:PKX) saw an uptick in trading volume on Wednesday . 110,510 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the previous session’s volume of 217,787 shares.The stock last traded at $71.3050 and had previously closed at $74.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PKX shares. Zacks Research cut POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings raised POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Trading Down 2.9%

The business’s fifty day moving average is $67.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.94. The company has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a PE ratio of 42.68 and a beta of 1.58.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12. POSCO had a return on equity of 1.35% and a net margin of 1.19%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that POSCO will post 4.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in POSCO by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 850,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,251,000 after purchasing an additional 41,381 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in POSCO by 14.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 549,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,051,000 after purchasing an additional 68,104 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in POSCO by 57.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,117,000 after purchasing an additional 154,100 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in POSCO by 8.0% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,577,000 after purchasing an additional 19,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in POSCO by 82.7% in the first 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 during the last quarter.

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.