POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $55.21, but opened at $58.77. POSCO shares last traded at $59.6250, with a volume of 46,877 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of POSCO in a report on Monday, December 29th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $53.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.46. The company has a market capitalization of $16.76 billion, a PE ratio of 80.59, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.49.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. POSCO had a return on equity of 0.74% and a net margin of 0.64%.The business had revenue of $12.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.41 billion. Research analysts anticipate that POSCO will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PKX. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of POSCO by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in POSCO by 51.6% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Founders Capital Management lifted its position in POSCO by 100.0% in the third quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of POSCO by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgewater Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of POSCO by 10.6% in the third quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 4,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period.

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.