Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $147.44.

A number of analysts have issued reports on STLD shares. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price objective on Steel Dynamics and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value of $1,013,773.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 125,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,950,647.94. This represents a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 21.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 448,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,603,000 after buying an additional 80,262 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,530 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 74.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,118,000 after purchasing an additional 7,928 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 37,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,323,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 219,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,990,000 after purchasing an additional 9,462 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Steel Dynamics stock opened at $122.66 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Steel Dynamics has a 52-week low of $103.17 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The firm has a market cap of $18.21 billion, a PE ratio of 12.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50 day moving average is $125.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.39.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.67 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Steel Dynamics

Steel Dynamics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer and metal recycler in the United States. The Steel Operations segment offers hot rolled, cold rolled, and coated steel products; parallel flange beams and channel sections, flat bars, large unequal leg angles, and reinforcing steel bars, as well as standard strength carbon, intermediate alloy hardness, and premium grade rail products; engineered special-bar-quality products, merchant-bar-quality products, and other engineered round steel bars; channels, angles, flats, merchant rounds, and reinforcing steel bars; and specialty shapes and light structural steel products.