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

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $91.72, but opened at $87.75. POSCO shares last traded at $87.35, with a volume of 21,981 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on PKX shares. UBS Group upgraded POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research cut POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.11. The stock has a market cap of $25.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.95 and a beta of 1.58.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $11.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.75 billion. POSCO had a return on equity of 1.35% and a net margin of 1.19%. Equities analysts expect that POSCO will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of POSCO by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 850,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,251,000 after purchasing an additional 41,381 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 68,104 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $20,117,000 after purchasing an additional 154,100 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of POSCO by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,577,000 after purchasing an additional 19,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG grew 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 purchasing an additional 115,069 shares during the last quarter.

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.