Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) in a research note released on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $155.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

STLD has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.63.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $144.81 on Monday. Steel Dynamics has a 1-year low of $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The stock has a market cap of $22.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $135.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.75.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 9.80%. The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.47 earnings per share. Steel Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 16.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total transaction of $950,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 116,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,723,707. This represents a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 10.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,885,938. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Commerce Bank increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $754,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.8% during the second quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,939 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 10.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.4% in the second quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 23,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,050,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

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.