Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Plans $0.46 Quarterly Dividend

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.46 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%.

Steel Dynamics has increased its dividend payment by an average of 19.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Steel Dynamics has a dividend payout ratio of 18.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Steel Dynamics to earn $10.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.8%.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $148.55 on Friday. Steel Dynamics has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.80. The company has a market capitalization of $22.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 1.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.47 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.