POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Shares of POSCO (NYSE:PKX) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 110,510 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 49% from the previous session’s volume of 217,787 shares.The stock last traded at $71.3050 and had previously closed at $74.28.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PKX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research lowered shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of 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 issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, POSCO presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.58 and its 200-day moving average is $61.20. The company has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.98 and a beta of 1.58.

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

Institutional Trading of POSCO

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PKX. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in POSCO during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,851,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in POSCO during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,223,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in POSCO by 57.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,117,000 after buying an additional 154,100 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its position in POSCO by 135.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 199,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,637,000 after buying an additional 115,069 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position 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 valued at $11,729,000 after buying an additional 90,777 shares during the period.

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.