BMO Capital Markets Upgrades Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) to "Outperform"

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $145.00 target price on the basic materials company's stock, up from their previous target price of $135.00.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.67.

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Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD traded down $11.30 during trading on Monday, hitting $116.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,876,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,459,053. Steel Dynamics has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS 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 in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Company Profile

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.