POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $60.69, but opened at $57.37. POSCO shares last traded at $57.60, with a volume of 80,619 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PKX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of POSCO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. UBS Group raised shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised POSCO from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

POSCO Stock Down 4.3%

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $71.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $17.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Institutional Trading of POSCO

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in POSCO during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,851,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of POSCO during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,223,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,117,000 after buying an additional 154,100 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 135.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 199,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,637,000 after buying an additional 115,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of POSCO by 82.7% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 200,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,729,000 after buying an additional 90,777 shares in 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.