POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume on Strong Earnings

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. Approximately 225,119 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the previous session’s volume of 287,888 shares.The stock last traded at $52.9830 and had previously closed at $54.49.

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 1.34% and a net margin of 1.19%.The company had revenue of $12.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.05 billion.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PKX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of POSCO from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of POSCO from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of POSCO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has 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 MarketBeat.com, POSCO currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in POSCO in the third quarter worth about $8,851,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in POSCO during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,223,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in POSCO by 57.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 154,100 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 115,069 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of POSCO by 82.7% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 200,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,729,000 after acquiring an additional 90,777 shares in the last quarter.

POSCO Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.36 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $58.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.82.

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.