United States Steel (NYSE:X) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of United States Steel (NYSE:X) in a report published on Monday. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $35.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock.

X has been the topic of a number of other reports. Glj Research raised shares of United States Steel from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.57 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of United States Steel from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of United States Steel from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised United States Steel from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.32.

United States Steel Stock Performance

Shares of United States Steel stock opened at $33.04 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.74 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.62 and a 200 day moving average of $37.34. United States Steel has a 12 month low of $26.92 and a 12 month high of $48.85.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. United States Steel had a return on equity of 6.01% and a net margin of 2.41%. United States Steel’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that United States Steel will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

United States Steel Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. United States Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United States Steel

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of X. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of United States Steel by 4,305.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in United States Steel during the third quarter valued at approximately $91,712,000. KGH Ltd grew its stake in United States Steel by 68.2% during the second quarter. KGH Ltd now owns 4,255,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $160,839,000 after buying an additional 1,724,670 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in United States Steel during the third quarter worth approximately $51,620,000. Finally, Forest Avenue Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of United States Steel in the second quarter worth $22,770,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.92% of the company’s stock.

United States Steel Company 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.