United States Steel (NYSE:X) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

United States Steel (NYSE:X) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $48.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $51.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 31.62% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on United States Steel from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on United States Steel from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research raised United States Steel from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on United States Steel in a research note on Monday, April 29th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, United States Steel currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.00.

United States Steel Price Performance

X opened at $36.47 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.71. United States Steel has a 1 year low of $20.40 and a 1 year high of $50.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 2.06.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.46. United States Steel had a return on equity of 10.61% and a net margin of 4.89%. The company had revenue of $4.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that United States Steel will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United States Steel

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Third Point LLC grew its holdings in United States Steel by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Third Point LLC now owns 5,500,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,575,000 after acquiring an additional 750,000 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of United States Steel by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 4,513,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $219,583,000 after acquiring an additional 447,186 shares in the last quarter. KGH Ltd grew its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. KGH Ltd now owns 4,488,769 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $145,795,000 after acquiring an additional 315,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of United States Steel during the fourth quarter worth $200,952,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of United States Steel by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,498,737 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $121,564,000 after purchasing an additional 94,080 shares during the period. 81.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.