Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $133.86.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on STLD. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 21,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.81, for a total value of $2,873,010.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,265,376.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,612,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $280,105,000 after purchasing an additional 19,833 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 51.5% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics in the third quarter worth $4,926,000. Invst LLC boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 4.9% in the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 7,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 1.9% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 582,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,466,000 after purchasing an additional 11,093 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $132.71 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50 day moving average is $129.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.41. The company has a market cap of $20.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics has a 12 month low of $95.53 and a 12 month high of $151.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The basic materials company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 27.62% and a net margin of 12.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.01 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 11.62 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th were paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 12.64%.

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.