Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $156.24 and last traded at $153.82, with a volume of 2893866 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $146.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on STLD. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $143.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, UBS Group set a $158.00 target price on Steel Dynamics and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.89.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $136.53 and a 200-day moving average of $131.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 6.39%.Steel Dynamics’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total transaction of $1,520,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 66,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,456,371.98. This trade represents a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 24.8% in the third quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 0.5% during the second quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,828 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,988,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 35.9% during the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 1.6% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $726,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Security Financial Services INC. raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 2.1% during the third quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 4,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. 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.