South Dakota Investment Council Has $5.88 Million Stake in United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X)

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its holdings in United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 21,700 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned 0.05% of United States Steel worth $5,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in X. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in shares of United States Steel by 181.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 985 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of United States Steel in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 60.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of United States Steel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new stake in shares of United States Steel during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $65,000. 81.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of United States Steel from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of United States Steel from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of United States Steel in a report on Friday, January 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of United States Steel in a report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of United States Steel from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, United States Steel currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.89.

United States Steel Stock Down 3.4 %

X traded down $1.29 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.65. 4,160,635 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,668,570. The stock has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 2.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $42.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. United States Steel Co. has a fifty-two week low of $20.40 and a fifty-two week high of $50.20.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $4.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. United States Steel had a net margin of 4.96% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that United States Steel Co. will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United States Steel Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. United States Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.70%.

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.