POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• UBS upgraded POSCO from neutral to buy, sending shares to a new 52-week high of $72.05 (last $71.4610) on Monday.
• Analyst views are mixed—two Buy, one Hold and one Sell with a MarketBeat consensus of "Hold"; Zacks recently cut to "strong sell" while Weiss upgraded to "hold."
• Institutional investors have been increasing exposure—most notably Goldman Sachs raised its stake by 57.3% to 423,253 shares, while AQR, BNP Paribas and others also boosted positions.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday after UBS Group upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The company traded as high as $72.05 and last traded at $71.4610, with a volume of 7690 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.15.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on PKX. Zacks Research cut shares of POSCO from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of POSCO from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, POSCO currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Hedge Funds Weigh In On POSCO

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in POSCO by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,462 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 495 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in POSCO by 57.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $20,117,000 after buying an additional 154,100 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in POSCO by 59.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 49,505 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,401,000 after buying an additional 18,403 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in POSCO during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $95,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in POSCO by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,374 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $12,577,000 after buying an additional 19,312 shares during the period.

POSCO Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $62.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.88. The company has a market capitalization of $21.47 billion, a PE ratio of 53.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.43.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.61) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($1.06). POSCO had a net margin of 0.97% and a return on equity of 1.09%. The firm had revenue of $10.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.85 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that POSCO will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About POSCO

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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