United States Steel Corporation (X) Downgraded by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. lowered shares of United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Friday, July 28th, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $20.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $26.00.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on X. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $34.00 target price (down previously from $48.00) on shares of United States Steel Corporation in a report on Monday, May 1st. Jefferies Group LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of United States Steel Corporation in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Vetr cut shares of United States Steel Corporation from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating and set a $38.38 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Standpoint Research raised shares of United States Steel Corporation from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $28.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Longbow Research upgraded shares of United States Steel Corporation from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $27.36.

United States Steel Corporation (X) traded up 1.45% during midday trading on Friday, hitting $24.43. The stock had a trading volume of 3,904,856 shares. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.93. The firm has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of 154.62 and a beta of 2.88. United States Steel Corporation has a one year low of $15.72 and a one year high of $41.83.

United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.98 billion. United States Steel Corporation had a net margin of 0.24% and a return on equity of 6.50%. The company’s revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.32) EPS. On average, analysts predict that United States Steel Corporation will post $1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 9th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 7th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. United States Steel Corporation’s payout ratio is currently 125.00%.

In other news, Director Stephen J. Girsky bought 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.94 per share, with a total value of $49,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,127.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paul Anthony Mascarenas acquired 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.31 per share, with a total value of $28,965.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,999.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 14,000 shares of company stock worth $278,415 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its position in shares of United States Steel Corporation by 160.8% in the first quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 30,407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,028,000 after buying an additional 80,407 shares during the period. Scopus Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of United States Steel Corporation by 203.3% in the first quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. now owns 206,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,985,000 after buying an additional 406,600 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of United States Steel Corporation by 12,021.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,279,755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $482,799,000 after buying an additional 14,161,952 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of United States Steel Corporation by 1,971.9% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,315 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 3,155 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of United States Steel Corporation by 14.0% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 2,221 shares during the period. 69.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About United States Steel Corporation

United States Steel Corporation is an integrated steel producer. The Company is engaged in producing flat-rolled and tubular products with production operations in North America and Europe. The Company operates through three segments: Flat-Rolled Products (Flat-Rolled), U. S. Steel Europe (USSE) and Tubular Products (Tubular).