Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Releases Q1 Earnings Guidance

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.36-1.40 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $127.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $127.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.98. Steel Dynamics has a 1-year low of $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The firm has a market cap of $19.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business earned $2.61 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on STLD. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.