Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Lifted to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $155.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $140.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Steel Dynamics from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the stock from $120.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $127.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $142.71.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $127.54 on Tuesday. Steel Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $98.25 and a fifty-two week high of $151.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $19.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $119.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.62.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.05. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 22.89% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.64%.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STLD. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 481.2% in 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 buying an additional 272,226 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 65.3% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 571,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,064,000 after acquiring an additional 225,832 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 1st quarter worth $32,178,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 21.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,137,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $168,550,000 after purchasing an additional 202,312 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the second quarter valued at $24,670,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by 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.