Analysts Set Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Target Price at $144.29

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $144.29.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on STLD. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of 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.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $140.69 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $129.58 and its 200 day moving average is $127.14. The company has a market cap of $21.42 billion, a PE ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Steel Dynamics has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 9.80%. The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 10.1 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This represents a 10.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total value of $950,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 116,949 shares in the company, valued at $16,723,707. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,591 shares of company stock worth $3,608,438. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Commerce Bank lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.1% in the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.8% in the second quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,939 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

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.