Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Given New $300.00 Price Target at Barclays

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) had its price target lifted by analysts at Barclays from $280.00 to $300.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 26.09% from the company’s current price.

STLD has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $165.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $257.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $272.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Steel Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.83.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

STLD traded down $1.06 during trading on Thursday, hitting $237.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 171,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,182,051. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.45. Steel Dynamics has a twelve month low of $151.21 and a twelve month high of $288.74. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $238.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.71. The company has a current ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The basic materials company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.48 by ($0.22). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 18.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, November 9th that authorizes the company to buy back $3 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to reacquire up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, EVP Barry Schneider sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.91, for a total transaction of $12,445,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 196,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,885,675.09. The trade was a 20.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,844,501,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,842,735 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,742,140,000 after purchasing an additional 466,259 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 19.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,340,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $241,242,000 after purchasing an additional 215,029 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 3.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 938,585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $168,945,000 after purchasing an additional 33,434 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $126,579,000. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Steel Dynamics Company Profile

Steel Dynamics, Inc. is a U.S.-based steel producer and metals recycler founded in 1993. The company operates electric-arc-furnace steel mills and produces flat-rolled, structural, engineered bar, merchant bar and rail products for customers across a range of industries. Its businesses also include metals recycling, steel fabrication and aluminum operations. Through these activities, Steel Dynamics collects and processes scrap metal, manufactures steel components and supplies products used in construction, automotive manufacturing, energy and other markets.