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

POSCO (NYSE:PKX)’s share price 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 changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

POSCO Trading Down 6.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $16.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.92 and a beta of 1.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $70.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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. The company had revenue of $11.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.75 billion. POSCO had a net margin of 1.19% and a return on equity of 1.34%. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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 added to or reduced their stakes in PKX. State Street Corp grew its holdings in POSCO by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 850,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,251,000 after buying an additional 41,381 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 14.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 549,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,051,000 after buying an additional 68,104 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 57.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,117,000 after buying an additional 154,100 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of POSCO by 8.0% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,577,000 after acquiring an additional 19,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in POSCO by 82.7% during 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 acquiring 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.