Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $149.11.

Several research firms have recently commented on STLD. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $336,426,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $409,816,000 after buying an additional 815,629 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 116.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $128,434,000 after acquiring an additional 548,086 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $642,033,000 after acquiring an additional 451,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 18,398.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 447,661 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,993,000 after purchasing an additional 445,241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 0.7 %

Steel Dynamics stock traded up $0.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $119.10. The stock had a trading volume of 53,606 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,498,136. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $126.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.60. The firm has a market cap of $17.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics has a twelve month low of $103.17 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 last year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.41%.

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

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.