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

POSCO (NYSE:PKX)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $78.63, but opened at $71.77. POSCO shares last traded at $73.6160, with a volume of 117,277 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PKX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research cut POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings raised POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a PE ratio of 44.00 and a beta of 1.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.82.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12. POSCO had a net margin of 1.19% and a return on equity of 1.35%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that POSCO will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of POSCO

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in shares of POSCO during the 3rd quarter valued at $500,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of POSCO by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 549,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,051,000 after buying an additional 68,104 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of POSCO by 156.9% during the 4th quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 22,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised 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 valued at $10,637,000 after buying an additional 115,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of POSCO during the 1st quarter valued at about $497,000.

About POSCO

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.