Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

STLD has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $133.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $20.30 billion, a PE ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $125.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.17.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,027,000 after buying an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% during the third 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. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 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.