Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets to “Outperform” Rating

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) was upgraded by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a $145.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $135.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.96% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on STLD. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

STLD stock opened at $123.97 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $18.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $128.46 and its 200 day moving average is $128.80. Steel Dynamics has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53.

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 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.61 EPS. Research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

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.