Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Upgraded at UBS Group

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) was upgraded by equities research analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $149.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 21.46% from the stock’s current price.

STLD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $122.67 on Monday. Steel Dynamics has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average is $128.22 and its 200 day moving average is $128.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.61 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade 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. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $642,033,000 after acquiring an additional 451,630 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,688,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $419,697,000 after acquiring an additional 30,350 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $409,816,000 after acquiring an additional 815,629 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,179,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $362,636,000 after acquiring an additional 393,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at $336,426,000. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.