United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) Plans $0.05 Quarterly Dividend

United States Steel Co. (NYSE:X) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.05 per share by the basic materials company on Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th.

United States Steel has increased its dividend payment by an average of 71.0% annually over the last three years. United States Steel has a dividend payout ratio of 7.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect United States Steel to earn $2.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.8%.

United States Steel Price Performance

Shares of X stock opened at $42.31 on Thursday. United States Steel has a 52-week low of $26.92 and a 52-week high of $50.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84 and a beta of 1.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.71.

United States Steel (NYSE:X) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. United States Steel’s quarterly revenue was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that United States Steel will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

X has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on United States Steel in a report on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Glj Research upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on United States Steel from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on United States Steel from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded United States Steel from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.80.

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.