Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) gapped up before the market opened on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $130.71, but opened at $134.68. Steel Dynamics shares last traded at $132.30, with a volume of 223,083 shares trading hands.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

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 company has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.89.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

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 value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $336,426,000. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,060,007 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 815,629 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $642,033,000 after purchasing an additional 451,630 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.