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

Shares of POSCO (NYSE:PKX) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $52.05, but opened at $53.92. POSCO shares last traded at $54.85, with a volume of 31,609 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of POSCO in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $16.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.52. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $53.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.75.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $12.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.41 billion. POSCO had a return on equity of 0.74% and a net margin of 0.64%. On average, equities analysts forecast that POSCO will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of POSCO

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of POSCO during the 1st quarter valued at $1,090,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in POSCO by 5.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 450,873 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,430,000 after purchasing an additional 21,609 shares during the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in POSCO during the first quarter valued at about $351,000. Compound Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of POSCO during the first quarter valued at about $321,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of POSCO by 25.8% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 45,862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,180,000 after buying an additional 9,408 shares during the period.

POSCO Company Profile

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.