Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Rating Increased to Outperform at BNP Paribas

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) was upgraded by research analysts at BNP Paribas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised shares of 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.25.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $111.93 on Friday. 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 has a 12-month low of $104.60 and a 12-month high of $155.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $133.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.91. The stock has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 1.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The company’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 10.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,306,106. This represents a 10.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938 in the last quarter. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STLD. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 85.8% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 7.0% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,138,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $276,891,000 after purchasing an additional 140,042 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,768,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,999,000 after acquiring an additional 22,390 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,546,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $194,933,000 after purchasing an additional 96,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 3.9% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,410,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $182,604,000 after acquiring an additional 53,532 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Steel Dynamics Company Profile

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.