Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Upgraded at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

STLD has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.25.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $113.15 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $132.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.84. Steel Dynamics has a 12-month low of $104.60 and a 12-month high of $155.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 9.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.47 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 10.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 16.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at $19,523,371.37. The trade was a 10.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total transaction of $269,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,306,106. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938 in the last three months. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 532.6% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. 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.