Sigma Planning Corp Decreases Stock Position in United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X)

Sigma Planning Corp reduced its position in United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,261 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,799 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in United States Steel were worth $694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in United States Steel by 2,145.4% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 40,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 38,682 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in United States Steel by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,828 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC bought a new stake in United States Steel in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $487,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in United States Steel by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 37,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 12,100 shares during the period. Finally, Cannon Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in United States Steel in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $276,000. 81.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

United States Steel Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of United States Steel stock opened at $36.60 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.78 and a 200 day moving average of $41.33. 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 issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $4.14 billion during 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%. United States Steel’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that United States Steel Co. will post 2.99 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 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. United States Steel’s payout ratio is currently 5.70%.

United States Steel Profile

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.