Steel Dynamics, Inc. (STLD) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 31st

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.46 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st.

Steel Dynamics has increased its dividend payment by an average of 19.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Steel Dynamics has a payout ratio of 19.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Steel Dynamics to earn $10.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.0%.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 1.1 %

STLD stock opened at $115.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.63 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 1.31. Steel Dynamics has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $134.41 and a 200 day moving average of $127.12.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 10.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total value of $277,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,927,763.75. This trade represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 10.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.