POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.12 EPS

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12, Zacks reports. POSCO had a return on equity of 1.35% and a net margin of 1.19%.The business had revenue of $11.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.75 billion.

POSCO Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PKX traded down $0.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $78.63. 160,296 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 166,367. The company has a market cap of $23.78 billion, a PE ratio of 59.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.14 and a 200 day moving average of $58.46. POSCO has a 52-week low of $42.35 and a 52-week high of $80.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upgraded POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, POSCO currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PKX. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of POSCO by 8.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,462 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of POSCO by 57.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,117,000 after acquiring an additional 154,100 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of POSCO by 59.2% during the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 49,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,401,000 after acquiring an additional 18,403 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of POSCO during the second quarter worth $95,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted 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 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.