POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) gapped up before the market opened on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $54.97, but opened at $58.82. POSCO shares last traded at $57.6960, with a volume of 30,135 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on PKX shares. Weiss Ratings lowered POSCO from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of POSCO from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Trading Down 2.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $17.01 billion, a PE ratio of 21.74 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business’s 50-day moving average is $58.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.49.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.96 billion. POSCO had a return on equity of 1.99% and a net margin of 1.79%. On average, analysts predict that POSCO will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PKX. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in POSCO by 3,766.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in POSCO by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in POSCO by 25.2% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in POSCO by 28.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 48,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,488,000 after acquiring an additional 10,812 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in POSCO in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,002,000.

POSCO Company Profile

POSCO is a South Korean steel producer and one of the world’s major integrated steelmakers. The company manufactures a broad range of steel products, including hot- and cold-rolled steel, heavy plate, wire rod, stainless steel, galvanized steel, automotive steel and electrical steel.

POSCO operates large integrated steelworks in Pohang and Gwangyang, South Korea. Its products are used in automobiles, shipbuilding, construction, energy infrastructure, appliances and other industrial applications.