Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Price Target Raised to $160.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $150.00 to $160.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on STLD. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Steel Dynamics from $143.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.89.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 3.1%

Steel Dynamics stock opened at $145.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $21.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.22, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.40. Steel Dynamics has a one year low of $103.17 and a one year high of $155.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $133.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.09.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 6.07%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total value of $1,520,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 66,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,456,371.98. This trade represents a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the second quarter valued at about $339,769,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 433.1% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,816,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $227,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475,767 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 25.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,066,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $883,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,897 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 531.0% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,191,669 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $149,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,813 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 43.3% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,088,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $271,238,000 after purchasing an additional 630,935 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

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.