Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Updates Q1 Earnings Guidance

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.36-1.40 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $124.94 on Tuesday. Steel Dynamics has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $127.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.93. The company has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.61 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

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