United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV lowered its stake in shares of United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) by 73.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 278,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 755,300 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in United States Steel were worth $9,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its position in shares of United States Steel by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 4,719,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $166,752,000 after acquiring an additional 326,876 shares during the last quarter. KGH Ltd increased its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 68.2% during the 2nd quarter. KGH Ltd now owns 4,255,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $160,839,000 after buying an additional 1,724,670 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in United States Steel by 4,305.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,634,364 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $137,379,000 after purchasing an additional 3,551,870 shares during the period. Alpine Associates Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 2,667,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,848,000 after purchasing an additional 316,800 shares during the period. Finally, Murchinson Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of United States Steel by 66.5% during the 1st quarter. Murchinson Ltd. now owns 2,100,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $85,638,000 after purchasing an additional 838,653 shares during the period. 81.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of United States Steel from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Glj Research upgraded shares of United States Steel from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.57 target price for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on United States Steel from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded United States Steel from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on United States Steel in a report on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.80.

United States Steel Stock Down 3.8 %

United States Steel stock opened at $36.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93 and a beta of 1.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.80. United States Steel Co. has a twelve month low of $26.92 and a twelve month high of $50.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. United States Steel had a return on equity of 6.01% and a net margin of 2.41%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. United States Steel’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that United States Steel Co. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United States Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. United States Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

United States Steel Company 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.