Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Stock Price

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.00.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of STLD stock opened at $125.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.74. Steel Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $103.17 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56. The firm has a market cap of $18.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $129.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 13.26% and a net margin of 6.80%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Steel Dynamics news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total value of $168,173.94. Following the transaction, the director now owns 81,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the business’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 approximately $16,950,647.94. This represents a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,238 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,003,000 after buying an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 23,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,695,000 after buying an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 66,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,540,000 after buying an additional 4,014 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 34,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,924,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is 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.