United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) to Issue $0.05 Quarterly Dividend

United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of 0.05 per share by the basic materials company on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%.

United States Steel has increased its dividend by an average of 35.7% annually over the last three years. United States Steel has a payout ratio of 5.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect United States Steel to earn $1.89 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.6%.

United States Steel Stock Performance

NYSE:X traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $36.48. The stock had a trading volume of 3,428,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,293,761. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.05. United States Steel has a 52 week low of $26.92 and a 52 week high of $48.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.38). United States Steel had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 6.01%. On average, research analysts expect that United States Steel will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on X shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of United States Steel in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of United States Steel from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of United States Steel from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of United States Steel from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.07.

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.