ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $25.48, but opened at $27.40. ArcelorMittal shares last traded at $27.98, with a volume of 1,114,629 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on MT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded ArcelorMittal from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America upgraded ArcelorMittal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $32.90 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ArcelorMittal presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.17.

ArcelorMittal Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.80. The company has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.09). ArcelorMittal had a positive return on equity of 5.26% and a negative net margin of 1.99%. As a group, analysts predict that ArcelorMittal S.A. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of ArcelorMittal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in ArcelorMittal by 221.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,403,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,344,020 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in ArcelorMittal by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,317,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,606,000 after buying an additional 419,465 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in ArcelorMittal by 90.5% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 622,335 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,343,000 after buying an additional 295,682 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 128.0% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 464,315 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,193,000 after acquiring an additional 260,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in shares of ArcelorMittal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.29% of the company’s stock.

About ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated steel and mining companies in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It offers semi-finished flat products, including slabs; finished flat products comprising plates, hot- and cold-rolled coils and sheets, hot-dipped and electro-galvanized coils and sheets, tinplate, and color coated coils and sheets; semi-finished long products, such as blooms and billets; finished long products consisting of bars, wire-rods, structural sections, rails, sheet piles, and wire-products; and seamless and welded pipes and tubes.