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

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $149.67.

Several brokerages have commented on STLD. UBS Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of STLD stock opened at $117.49 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. The firm has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.99, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $126.72 and a 200-day moving average of $128.72. Steel Dynamics has a 12-month low of $103.17 and a 12-month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.61 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth about $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Company Profile

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.