Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.13.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ STLD opened at $126.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $19.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $124.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company posted $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total transaction of $950,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 116,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,723,707. This represents a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total value of $277,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,101 shares in the company, valued at $2,927,763.75. This represents a 8.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 192.4% during the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 250,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,577,000 after purchasing an additional 164,895 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $16,495,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

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.