Citigroup Cuts Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Price Target to $145.00

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) had its price objective cut by Citigroup from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on STLD. Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.25.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $115.69 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $135.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.47. The company has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.39. Steel Dynamics has a one year low of $104.60 and a one year high of $155.56.

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

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given 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 1.59%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.65%.

Insider Activity

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at $19,523,371.37. This represents a 10.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total value 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 $2,306,106. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 28,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,885,938. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the second quarter worth $33,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 532.6% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 33.3% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. 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.