Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Raises Dividend to $0.50 Per Share

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46.

Steel Dynamics has increased its dividend by an average of 21.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Steel Dynamics has a payout ratio of 15.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Steel Dynamics to earn $12.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.2%.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $133.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $124.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Steel Dynamics has a 1-year low of $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup decreased 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. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.00% 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.