United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) Shares Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 62,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in United States Steel were worth $2,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of X. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in United States Steel during the 4th quarter worth approximately $525,000. ARS Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in United States Steel during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,510,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in United States Steel by 646.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 506,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,902,000 after purchasing an additional 438,771 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in United States Steel by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,839,684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $135,691,000 after purchasing an additional 37,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in United States Steel by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,600,708 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $91,883,000 after purchasing an additional 28,293 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on X shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of United States Steel in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of United States Steel in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.82.

United States Steel Stock Performance

United States Steel stock opened at $38.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $35.00 and a 200-day moving average of $36.99. United States Steel Co. has a 52 week low of $26.92 and a 52 week high of $48.13.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.38). United States Steel had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 4.27%. On average, analysts expect that United States Steel Co. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United States Steel Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. United States Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.