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

Shares of POSCO (NYSE:PKX) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $66.67, but opened at $62.47. POSCO shares last traded at $62.7250, with a volume of 94,874 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on PKX shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research cut POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Stock Down 6.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $18.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.80 and a beta of 1.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $70.31 and a 200 day moving average of $62.44.

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

Institutional Trading of POSCO

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PKX. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of POSCO by 8.3% during the 1st 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. raised its holdings in shares of POSCO by 57.3% during the 1st 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. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of POSCO by 59.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 49,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,401,000 after buying an additional 18,403 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in POSCO in the second quarter valued at about $95,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in POSCO by 8.0% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,577,000 after buying 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.