Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Stock Price Up 4.5% - Here's Why

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 4.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $121.66 and last traded at $121.57. Approximately 185,332 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 1,561,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on STLD shares. Bank of America raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $149.00 price target (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $145.00 to $125.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.13.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 6.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.36. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $130.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.54.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.47 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 16.65%.

Insider Activity

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 146,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 10.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total transaction of $269,720.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,306,106. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,267,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 951 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 23,551 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,050,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,621 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.