POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $69.00 and last traded at $68.83, with a volume of 107796 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $67.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of POSCO in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Trading Up 2.6%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.22 and a 200-day moving average of $54.47. The company has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a PE ratio of 52.16, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.96.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.61) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($1.06). The business had revenue of $10.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.85 billion. POSCO had a return on equity of 1.09% and a net margin of 0.97%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that POSCO will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On POSCO

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PKX. Compound Planning Inc. grew its stake in POSCO by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 8,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of POSCO by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 30,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after acquiring an additional 4,364 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its stake in POSCO by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 12,093 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,929 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in POSCO during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,223,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in POSCO during the 4th quarter valued at about $475,000.

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.