Short Interest in United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) Decreases By 49.1%

United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,210,000 shares, a decline of 49.1% from the January 15th total of 25,940,000 shares. Currently, 5.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 7,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Institutional Trading of United States Steel

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in X. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in United States Steel during the 2nd quarter valued at $491,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in United States Steel during the third quarter valued at about $824,000. Creative Planning boosted its position in United States Steel by 2.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in United States Steel in the third quarter valued at about $327,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in United States Steel by 103.7% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 18,971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 9,660 shares in the last quarter. 81.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

X has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on United States Steel from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on United States Steel from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of United States Steel in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on 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. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on United States Steel in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.82.

United States Steel Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE X traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $38.93. The company had a trading volume of 6,453,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,466,857. The stock has a market cap of $8.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.86. United States Steel has a 52 week low of $26.92 and a 52 week high of $48.13. The business’s 50-day moving average is $35.00 and its 200-day moving average is $36.98. 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 (NYSE:X) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported ($0.18) EPS 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 expect that United States Steel will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

United States Steel Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. United States Steel’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

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.