Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Price Target Cut to $131.00

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $131.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

STLD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $127.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the company from $120.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $141.29.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $119.83 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $18.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $120.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.01. Steel Dynamics has a 1 year low of $98.25 and a 1 year high of $151.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 10.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.64%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth $221,817,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 481.2% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 328,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $42,461,000 after purchasing an additional 272,226 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 65.3% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 571,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,064,000 after purchasing an additional 225,832 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,178,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,137,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $168,550,000 after buying an additional 202,312 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.