Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $148.00.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on STLD shares. BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $131.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,875,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,531,980. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.74. The company has a 50 day moving average of $130.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.97. Steel Dynamics has a twelve month low of $103.17 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The firm has a market cap of $19.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.38.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 13.26% and a net margin of 6.80%. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.67 EPS. Research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is currently 26.42%.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total transaction of $168,173.94. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 81,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,971,807.32. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $1,013,773.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 125,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. The trade was a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $336,426,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 433.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,816,525 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $227,211,000 after buying an additional 1,475,767 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 25.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,066,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $883,854,000 after buying an additional 1,437,897 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 531.0% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,191,669 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $149,054,000 after buying an additional 1,002,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $409,816,000 after buying an additional 815,629 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is 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.