Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Steel Dynamics Call Options (NASDAQ:STLD)

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 11,772 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 760% compared to the average volume of 1,369 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of Steel Dynamics 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,306,106. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the first quarter worth $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 13.8 %

STLD opened at $154.32 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $124.24 and a 200 day moving average of $126.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Steel Dynamics has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The company has a market cap of $23.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.00 and a beta of 1.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 9.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 10.22 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.