Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Receives $148.78 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $148.7778.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on STLD shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $143.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $145.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $131.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $129.34. Steel Dynamics has a 52 week low of $103.17 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The stock has a market cap of $21.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.40.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.04). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 6.07%.The business had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 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, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.15%.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total transaction of $1,520,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 66,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,456,371.98. The trade was a 15.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of STLD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the second quarter worth about $339,769,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 433.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,816,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $227,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475,767 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,066,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $883,854,000 after buying an additional 1,437,897 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 531.0% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,191,669 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $149,054,000 after buying an additional 1,002,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 43.3% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,088,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $271,238,000 after buying an additional 630,935 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.