Why United States Steel Corporation (X) Shares Are Soaring Today

United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) shares have popped by 4% in midday action after Seth Rosenfeld of Jefferies hiked his price target on the steel producer to $50 from the previous $45 per share. Rosenfeld believes the cyclical recovery in the energy sector could drive more steel demand beyond just simple rig counts. Due to his belief, the analyst thinks that there is possible upside to United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X)’s current outlook. Jefferies has a ‘Buy’ rating.

Given that it would stand to benefit from any infrastructure building program, United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) is one of the ‘Trump Trade’ stocks. Shares of the company have soared since Trump won the election in November and have been fairly range-bound recently as some investors wait for Congress to make progress on the potential trillion dollar infrastructure bill before buying.

What Does The Smart Money Sentiment Say?

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According to our data, the smart money was slightly more bullish in Q4 than in Q3. Of the 742 elite funds we track, 35 funds owned $1.16 billion of United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) and accounted for 20.50% of the float on December 31, versus 35 funds and $787.67 million respectively on September 30. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies increased its holdings by 69% in the fourth quarter to 5.65 million shares.

The Bottom Line

United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) shares are higher due to an analyst price target hike along with improving sentiment. For those of you interested, check out this interesting article about the countries that produce the most steel.

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