Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Raised to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $158.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $145.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 26.37% from the company’s previous close.

STLD has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.67.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $125.03 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $126.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.74. The firm has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.76, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $10,786,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $2,703,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 17,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 3,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.