United States Steel (NYSE:X) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America began coverage on shares of United States Steel (NYSE:X) in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $35.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on X. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on United States Steel from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Glj Research raised shares of United States Steel from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.57 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of United States Steel from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on United States Steel from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.32.

United States Steel Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of X opened at $32.74 on Monday. United States Steel has a 1 year low of $26.92 and a 1 year high of $48.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.26. 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 firm has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54 and a beta of 1.88.

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

United States Steel Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of United States Steel by 646.0% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 506,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,902,000 after acquiring an additional 438,771 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,839,684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $135,691,000 after buying an additional 37,528 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of United States Steel by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,600,708 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $91,883,000 after buying an additional 28,293 shares during the last quarter. Water Island Capital LLC raised its position in shares of United States Steel by 5.3% in the second quarter. Water Island Capital LLC now owns 906,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,250,000 after buying an additional 45,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of United States Steel during the third quarter valued at approximately $608,000. 81.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.