Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Upgraded to “Outperform” at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.25.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD stock opened at $113.15 on Friday. Steel Dynamics has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The stock has a market cap of $17.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The business 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 firm posted $3.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 10.09 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 16.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This represents a 10.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total value of $277,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 21,101 shares in the company, valued at $2,927,763.75. This represents a 8.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,885,938 in the last three months. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after acquiring an additional 18,647 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,880,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 9.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 230,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,904,000 after purchasing an additional 19,853 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 21.5% during the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 38,355 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,836,000 after purchasing an additional 6,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 48.0% during the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,262 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,672,000 after buying an additional 4,302 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.