POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday . 279,393 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 10% from the previous session’s volume of 253,085 shares.The stock last traded at $54.2750 and had previously closed at $57.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PKX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research raised POSCO from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered POSCO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. UBS Group upgraded POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered POSCO from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $70.61 and a 200-day moving average of $63.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69 and a beta of 1.52.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 1.19% and a return on equity of 1.34%. The firm had revenue of $11.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.75 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that POSCO will post 4.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new position in POSCO in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Founders Capital Management raised its stake in shares of POSCO by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 51.6% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 1,276.9% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of POSCO during the fourth quarter worth about $85,000.

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.