POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded POSCO from “hold” to “buy,” while analyst sentiment remains mixed overall: MarketBeat reports an average “hold” rating, with one buy, one hold, and one sell recommendation.
• POSCO reported quarterly EPS of $1.30, beating estimates of $0.85, although revenue of $12.43 billion fell short of the $12.58 billion consensus forecast.
• POSCO shares opened at $53.12, down 2.5%, and remain well below their 52-week high of $92.40; several institutional investors, including Bank of America and Quantinno Capital Management, increased their holdings.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PKX. UBS Group raised shares of POSCO from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of POSCO from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of POSCO from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. One equities 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 MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold".

POSCO Stock Down 2.5%

PKX stock opened at $53.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 1.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.57 and a 200-day moving average of $62.75. POSCO has a fifty-two week low of $44.99 and a fifty-two week high of $92.40.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.58 billion. POSCO had a return on equity of 2.00% and a net margin of 1.79%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that POSCO will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of POSCO by 56.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,225 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 4,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of POSCO by 96.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 109,074 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,380,000 after buying an additional 53,469 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in POSCO by 82.7% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 200,529 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,729,000 after buying an additional 90,777 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in POSCO by 70.8% during the first quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 9,685 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $566,000 after buying an additional 4,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in POSCO during the first quarter worth $814,000.

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.

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