BNP Paribas Upgrades Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) to Outperform

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BNP Paribas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.25.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $111.93 on Friday. Steel Dynamics has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $133.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 1.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.47 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 10.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total value of $269,720.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,306,106. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938 over the last quarter. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 18,647 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the third quarter valued at approximately $15,880,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 230,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,904,000 after acquiring an additional 19,853 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 38,355 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,836,000 after buying an additional 6,779 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 48.0% in the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,262 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,672,000 after purchasing an additional 4,302 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is 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.