Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) was upgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Finviz reports. The firm currently has a $158.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $145.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 26.15% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on STLD. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.67.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $125.25 on Friday. Steel Dynamics has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The company has a market cap of $19.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.61.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $336,426,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $289,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $409,816,000 after purchasing an additional 815,629 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $642,033,000 after purchasing an additional 451,630 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Steel Dynamics Company Profile

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.