Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $153.30 and last traded at $150.68, with a volume of 41931 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $135.65.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STLD has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.29.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 4.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $125.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 1.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The business had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 16.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total value of $269,720.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,306,106. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total value of $269,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,306,106. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of STLD. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 20,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,080,000 after purchasing an additional 1,845 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.0% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.8% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 6,686 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 5.5% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,938 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. 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.