Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04, Zacks reports. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 earnings per share.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $127.34. 774,474 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,503,196. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $124.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.16. The company has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics has a 12-month low of $103.17 and a 12-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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. 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 1.57%. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 26.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STLD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price target on Steel Dynamics and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are 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.