StockNews.com Begins Coverage on United States Steel (NYSE:X)

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of United States Steel (NYSE:X) in a research note published on Saturday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of United States Steel from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of United States Steel from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of United States Steel in a report on Friday, January 12th. They issued a neutral rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of United States Steel from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $37.89.

United States Steel Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:X opened at $40.84 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.11. United States Steel has a 12-month low of $20.40 and a 12-month high of $50.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 2.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $4.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. United States Steel had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 4.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that United States Steel will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

United States Steel Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. United States Steel’s payout ratio is 5.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United States Steel

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of X. Third Point LLC boosted its holdings in United States Steel by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Third Point LLC now owns 5,500,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,575,000 after buying an additional 750,000 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its stake in United States Steel by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 4,513,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $219,583,000 after purchasing an additional 447,186 shares in the last quarter. KGH Ltd lifted its stake in United States Steel by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. KGH Ltd now owns 4,488,769 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $145,795,000 after purchasing an additional 315,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in United States Steel in the 4th quarter worth $200,952,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in United States Steel by 155.8% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,309,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $124,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,980 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.92% of the company’s stock.

About United States Steel

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.