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

Key Points

• Steel Dynamics, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from twelve brokerages, with an average target price of $149.33.
• Recent transactions revealed insider selling as SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares at $135.26, while institutional investors like Price T Rowe Associates raised their position by 25.5%.
• Despite reporting earnings of $2.01 per share, which was below the consensus estimate, Steel Dynamics experienced a 2.9% increase in its share price following earnings reports.

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $149.3333.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on STLD shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $1,013,773.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 125,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. This represents a 5.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the company's 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 owned 81,812 shares in the company, valued at $10,971,807.32. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,749 shares of company stock worth $2,702,468. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position 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 worth $883,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,897 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position 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 worth $409,816,000 after purchasing an additional 815,629 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,179,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $362,636,000 after purchasing an additional 393,516 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 2nd quarter worth about $339,769,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,088,372 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $271,238,000 after purchasing an additional 630,935 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $129.24 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 3.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $129.86 and a 200 day moving average of $128.21. Steel Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $103.17 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 6.07%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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