Zacks Research Upgrades POSCO (NYSE:PKX) to Hold

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on PKX. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Two 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, POSCO has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

POSCO Trading Down 0.6%

PKX opened at $60.45 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.77 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.30. POSCO has a 1-year low of $44.99 and a 1-year high of $92.40.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PKX. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of POSCO during the 3rd quarter worth $8,851,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of POSCO during the 4th quarter worth $9,223,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of POSCO by 57.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,117,000 after purchasing an additional 154,100 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of POSCO by 135.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 199,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,637,000 after purchasing an additional 115,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of POSCO by 82.7% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 200,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,729,000 after purchasing an additional 90,777 shares during the last quarter.

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.