United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.76.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded United States Steel from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded United States Steel from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Glj Research upgraded United States Steel from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.57 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on United States Steel from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on United States Steel from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

Institutional Trading of United States Steel

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of United States Steel in the 2nd quarter worth $491,000. KGH Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 68.2% during the second quarter. KGH Ltd now owns 4,255,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $160,839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,724,670 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 6.3% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Water Island Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 5.3% during the second quarter. Water Island Capital LLC now owns 906,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,250,000 after purchasing an additional 45,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 3.2% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $680,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.92% of the company’s stock.

United States Steel Price Performance

Shares of X opened at $38.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 1.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.09 and a 200-day moving average of $38.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. United States Steel has a 52 week low of $26.92 and a 52 week high of $50.20.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. United States Steel had a return on equity of 7.93% and a net margin of 3.40%. The business’s revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that United States Steel will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

United States Steel Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. United States Steel’s payout ratio is currently 5.87%.

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.