Brokerages Set Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Target Price at $148.56

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $148.56.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STLD. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 4.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 266,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,600,000 after acquiring an additional 10,758 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.0% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 5.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 23,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.6% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 6,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the third quarter valued at about $95,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

NASDAQ STLD opened at $122.67 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Steel Dynamics has a 12-month low of $104.60 and a 12-month high of $155.56. The company has a market capitalization of $18.42 billion, a PE ratio of 12.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $128.22 and its 200-day moving average is $128.00.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

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.