Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Stock

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has raised its target price for Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) from $143.00 to $150.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.81% from its current price.
• Analysts generally favor the stock, with nine ratings for Buy and three for Hold, resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $149.40.
• Steel Dynamics reported a net margin of 6.07% and earnings of $2.01 per share, falling short of analyst expectations while experiencing a 1.5% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $143.00 to $150.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target indicates a potential upside of 14.81% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $149.40.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 2.5%

STLD opened at $130.65 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $19.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.40. Steel Dynamics has a twelve month low of $103.17 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The company's 50-day moving average price is $129.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.99.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.82 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 11.88%. The firm's revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total value of $1,520,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 66,738 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,456,371.98. This represents a 15.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 2nd quarter valued at $339,769,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $227,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475,767 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in 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 valued at $883,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,897 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in 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 valued at $149,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 43.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,088,372 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $271,238,000 after acquiring an additional 630,935 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

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