United States Steel (NYSE:X) Shares Gap Up to $29.97

Shares of United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $29.97, but opened at $31.04. United States Steel shares last traded at $31.41, with a volume of 9,499,448 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

X has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on United States Steel from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com started coverage on United States Steel in a report on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised United States Steel from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on United States Steel from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised United States Steel from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.67.

United States Steel Trading Up 4.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.46. The firm has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 1.88.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.12. United States Steel had a return on equity of 7.93% and a net margin of 3.40%. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that United States Steel Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United States Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. United States Steel’s payout ratio is 5.87%.

Institutional Trading of United States Steel

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in X. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of United States Steel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $200,952,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of United States Steel by 4,305.6% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,634,364 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $137,379,000 after purchasing an additional 3,551,870 shares during the last quarter. KRYGER CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in shares of United States Steel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $95,529,000. KGH Ltd increased its position in shares of United States Steel by 68.2% during the 2nd quarter. KGH Ltd now owns 4,255,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $160,839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,724,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of United States Steel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,338,000. 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.