National Steel (NYSE:SID) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

National Steel Company (NYSE:SID)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $1.90, but opened at $1.80. National Steel shares last traded at $1.7750, with a volume of 964,816 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SID shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of National Steel in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of National Steel from $1.30 to $1.40 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of National Steel from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, National Steel currently has an average rating of “Sell” and an average price target of $1.40.

National Steel Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.32 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $1.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.32.

National Steel (NYSE:SID) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The basic materials company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.09). National Steel had a negative return on equity of 7.77% and a negative net margin of 2.88%.The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that National Steel Company will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On National Steel

An institutional investor recently raised its position in National Steel stock. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of National Steel Company (NYSE:SID) by 155.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 19,289 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in National Steel were worth $53,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

About National Steel

Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional operates as an integrated steel producer in Brazil and Latin America. It operates through five segments: Steel Industry, Mining, Logistics, Energy, and Cement. The company offers flat steel products, such as hot and cold rolled, galvanized, galvalume, pre-painted, and metal sheets products; coil, sheets, and derivatives; tiles and derivatives, pipes, and profiles; long steel products; steel packaging solutions for the food industry; chemical packaging solution; and carbochemical products.