POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $78.63, but opened at $71.77. POSCO shares last traded at $73.6160, with a volume of 117,277 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PKX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group raised POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. 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 has an average rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Trading Down 5.0%

The company has a market cap of $22.58 billion, a PE ratio of 44.00 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.82.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.12. POSCO had a net margin of 1.19% and a return on equity of 1.35%. Equities analysts expect that POSCO will post 4.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PKX. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of POSCO by 8.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,462 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $20,117,000 after purchasing an additional 154,100 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of POSCO by 59.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 49,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,401,000 after purchasing an additional 18,403 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of POSCO during the second quarter valued at $95,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of POSCO by 8.0% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,577,000 after buying an additional 19,312 shares during the last quarter.

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.