Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Gap Down to $120.09

Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $120.09, but opened at $116.62. Steel Dynamics shares last traded at $117.85, with a volume of 342,628 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $120.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Monday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $127.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.29.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 2.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $18.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.25 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $120.30 and its 200 day moving average is $129.08.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.05. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.81 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.64%.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,604,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $534,295,000 after purchasing an additional 152,254 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,138,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $276,891,000 after buying an additional 140,042 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $221,817,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,768,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,999,000 after buying an additional 22,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,410,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $182,604,000 after buying an additional 53,532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.