Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday.

STLD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $125.25 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.61.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $336,426,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $409,816,000 after purchasing an additional 815,629 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $128,434,000 after buying an additional 548,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $642,033,000 after acquiring an additional 451,630 shares in 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.