Traders Buy High Volume of United States Steel Call Options (NYSE:X)

United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 101,458 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 42% compared to the average daily volume of 71,636 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on X. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of United States Steel from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of United States Steel from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of United States Steel from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of United States Steel from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of United States Steel in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.70.

United States Steel Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:X traded up $1.88 on Monday, reaching $40.88. 8,186,224 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,914,197. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. United States Steel has a 1-year low of $26.92 and a 1-year high of $43.35. The firm has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.09 and a 200-day moving average of $36.64.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.38). United States Steel had a return on equity of 4.27% and a net margin of 2.46%. Equities analysts forecast that United States Steel will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United States Steel Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. United States Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United States Steel

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of United States Steel by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,558,732 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $698,791,000 after buying an additional 186,994 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of United States Steel by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,291,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $315,790,000 after buying an additional 929,762 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its position in shares of United States Steel by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 4,788,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,747,000 after buying an additional 68,230 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of United States Steel by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,773,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,242,000 after buying an additional 174,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of United States Steel by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,862,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,313,000 after buying an additional 22,380 shares in the last quarter. 81.92% of the stock is 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.