United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.80.

X has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of United States Steel in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Glj Research cut shares of United States Steel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of United States Steel from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating on shares of United States Steel in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of United States Steel in a research note on Monday, March 31st.

United States Steel Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE X opened at $54.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $12.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 189.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $46.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.43. United States Steel has a one year low of $26.92 and a one year high of $54.91.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.35) by ($0.04). United States Steel had a return on equity of 1.69% and a net margin of 0.64%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that United States Steel will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

United States Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. United States Steel’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United States Steel

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in X. Norges Bank bought a new stake in United States Steel in the fourth quarter valued at $130,731,000. Third Point LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United States Steel in the 1st quarter valued at about $153,192,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in United States Steel by 448.9% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 2,641,762 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,641,000 after buying an additional 2,160,512 shares in the last quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP acquired a new position in United States Steel during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,795,000. Finally, NWI Management LP acquired a new position in United States Steel during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,946,000. Institutional investors own 81.92% of the company’s stock.

United States Steel Company Profile

United States Steel Corporation produces and sells flat-rolled and tubular steel products primarily in North America and Europe. The company operates through North American Flat-Rolled (Flat-Rolled), Mini Mill, U. S. Steel Europe (USSE), and Tubular Products (Tubular) segments. The Flat-Rolled segment offers slabs, strip mill plates, sheets, and tin mill products, as well as iron ore and coke.