POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

POSCO (NYSE:PKX)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $60.69, but opened at $57.37. POSCO shares last traded at $57.60, with a volume of 80,619 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upgraded POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised POSCO from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen cut POSCO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

POSCO Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $71.09 and its 200 day moving average is $63.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On POSCO

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in POSCO by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,462 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $20,117,000 after buying an additional 154,100 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of POSCO by 59.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 49,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,401,000 after buying an additional 18,403 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of POSCO in the 2nd quarter valued at about $95,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake 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 valued at $12,577,000 after purchasing an additional 19,312 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.