JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Price Target to $140.00

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $132.00 to $140.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 14.30% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on STLD. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 target price (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

NASDAQ:STLD traded up $3.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $122.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 446,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,351,412. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $18.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.80.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,786,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $2,703,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 17,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 3,867 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is 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.