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

POSCO (NYSE:PKX)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $58.43, but opened at $61.27. POSCO shares last traded at $60.8050, with a volume of 59,156 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of POSCO from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

POSCO Stock Up 4.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $18.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $54.23 and its 200-day moving average is $62.38.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.45. POSCO had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 2.00%. The business had revenue of $12.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.96 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that POSCO will post 4.91 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted 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 acquiring an additional 41,381 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in POSCO by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,117,000 after purchasing an additional 154,100 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in POSCO by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,577,000 after purchasing an additional 19,312 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new position in POSCO in the second quarter valued at about $13,269,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in POSCO by 82.7% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 200,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,729,000 after purchasing an additional 90,777 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.