Renaissance Technologies LLC Acquires Shares of 13,911 POSCO $PKX

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in POSCO (NYSE:PKX) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,911 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PKX. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in shares of POSCO during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in 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 increased its position in POSCO by 1,276.9% in 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. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in POSCO in the 4th quarter worth about $85,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of POSCO during the 2nd quarter worth about $95,000.

POSCO Trading Up 3.6%

POSCO stock opened at $58.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $17.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 1.56. POSCO has a one year low of $44.99 and a one year high of $92.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $54.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.58.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.45. POSCO had a return on equity of 2.00% and a net margin of 1.79%.The company had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.96 billion. On average, analysts forecast that POSCO will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PKX has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upgraded POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research upgraded POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, POSCO currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

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.