POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Upgraded by UBS Group to “Buy” Rating

UBS Group upgraded shares of POSCO (NYSE:PKX) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PKX. Zacks Research cut POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, POSCO currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Price Performance

Shares of PKX opened at $71.06 on Monday. POSCO has a 12-month low of $42.35 and a 12-month high of $72.17. The business’s fifty day moving average is $62.44 and its 200 day moving average is $57.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $21.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.43.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.61) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($1.06). POSCO had a return on equity of 1.09% and a net margin of 0.97%.The firm had revenue of $10.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.85 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that POSCO will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PKX. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of POSCO during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,851,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of POSCO during the 4th quarter valued at $9,223,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position 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. UBS Group AG increased its position 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. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position 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.

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.