Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD)

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $150.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on STLD. Citigroup raised their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $125.29.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $132.73 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $20.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Steel Dynamics has a 1-year low of $90.55 and a 1-year high of $151.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $138.82 and its 200-day moving average is $125.99.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The basic materials company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $0.13. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 27.62% and a net margin of 12.89%. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 12.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 12.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 21,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.81, for a total value of $2,873,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,265,376.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,008,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $118,787,000 after buying an additional 11,026 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,321 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,046,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,762,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 363,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,975,000 after buying an additional 10,942 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 514,888 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,808,000 after buying an additional 59,668 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

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.