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

POSCO (NYSE:PKX)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $66.67, but opened at $62.47. POSCO shares last traded at $62.7250, with a volume of 94,874 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Wall Street Zen raised POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. 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.com, POSCO presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Stock Down 6.7%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.31 and a 200 day moving average of $62.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80 and a beta of 1.52.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $11.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.75 billion. POSCO had a return on equity of 1.34% and a net margin of 1.19%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that POSCO will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of POSCO

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PKX. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new stake in shares of POSCO in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Founders Capital Management lifted its position in shares of POSCO by 100.0% in the third quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position 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 buying an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in POSCO by 1,276.9% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in POSCO in the 4th quarter valued at $85,000.

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.