Yakira Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X)

Yakira Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 27,000 shares during the period. Yakira Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in United States Steel were worth $2,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of X. Gator Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 54.5% during the fourth quarter. Gator Capital Management LLC now owns 12,750 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in United States Steel by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 226,158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,684,000 after purchasing an additional 8,408 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 4,788,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,747,000 after purchasing an additional 68,230 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of United States Steel by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,773,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,242,000 after purchasing an additional 174,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Discovery Capital Management LLC CT lifted its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 488.0% during the fourth quarter. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT now owns 556,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,926,000 after purchasing an additional 462,100 shares in the last quarter. 81.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on United States Steel in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of United States Steel from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of United States Steel in a report on Monday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of United States Steel from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on United States Steel from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.32.

United States Steel Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of United States Steel stock opened at $38.30 on Friday. United States Steel Co. has a 1-year low of $26.92 and a 1-year high of $44.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a PE ratio of 25.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.79.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.38). United States Steel had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 4.27%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that United States Steel Co. will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

United States Steel Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. United States Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

United States Steel Profile

United States Steel Corporation produces and sells flat-rolled and tubular steel products primarily in North America and Europe. The company operates through North American Flat-Rolled (Flat-Rolled), Mini Mill, U. S. Steel Europe (USSE), and Tubular Products (Tubular) segments. The Flat-Rolled segment offers slabs, strip mill plates, sheets, and tin mill products, as well as iron ore and coke.