Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $123.07, but opened at $135.60. Steel Dynamics shares last traded at $136.45, with a volume of 1,016,161 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on STLD shares. Wall Street Zen cut Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. KeyCorp raised 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. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 target price on Steel Dynamics and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 1.4%

The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $125.84 and a 200-day moving average of $127.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 26.42%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 125,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. This trade represents a 5.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STLD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $336,426,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 433.1% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,816,525 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $227,211,000 after buying an additional 1,475,767 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 25.5% during 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 buying an additional 1,437,897 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 531.0% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,191,669 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $149,054,000 after buying an additional 1,002,813 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during 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 buying an additional 815,629 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company's stock.

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.