Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Price Target Raised to $145.00

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $131.00 to $145.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on STLD. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.13.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 2.4 %

STLD opened at $129.42 on Monday. Steel Dynamics has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The company has a market cap of $19.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $124.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.26.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $2.61 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.78%.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total transaction of $950,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 116,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,723,707. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total transaction of $277,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 21,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,927,763.75. This represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $289,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,434,000 after buying an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after buying an additional 253,802 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 192.4% during the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 250,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,577,000 after purchasing an additional 164,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $15,880,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.