Wall Street Zen Upgrades ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) to Buy

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered ArcelorMittal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $36.20 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of ArcelorMittal in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of ArcelorMittal from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $31.70 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.95.

ArcelorMittal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MT traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $34.46. The company had a trading volume of 1,022,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,834,683. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $31.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.52. ArcelorMittal has a fifty-two week low of $20.52 and a fifty-two week high of $34.90.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.33. ArcelorMittal had a return on equity of 4.11% and a net margin of 1.98%. The firm had revenue of $14.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. ArcelorMittal's quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ArcelorMittal will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

ArcelorMittal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.2338 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 1.44%. ArcelorMittal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,438 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 14,097 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $407,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,496 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 23.7% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 2,298 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. 9.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ArcelorMittal Company Profile

ArcelorMittal SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated steel and mining companies in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It offers semi-finished flat products, including slabs; finished flat products comprising plates, hot- and cold-rolled coils and sheets, hot-dipped and electro-galvanized coils and sheets, tinplate, and color coated coils and sheets; semi-finished long products, such as blooms and billets; finished long products consisting of bars, wire-rods, structural sections, rails, sheet piles, and wire-products; and seamless and welded pipes and tubes.