BNP Paribas Upgrades Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) to “Outperform”

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) was upgraded by equities researchers at BNP Paribas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.25.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $113.15 on Friday. 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 market cap of $17.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 1.36. Steel Dynamics has a 12-month low of $104.60 and a 12-month high of $155.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.83.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.47 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 10.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total transaction of $277,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,101 shares in the company, valued at $2,927,763.75. This trade represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at $19,523,371.37. This represents a 10.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,885,938. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $289,400,000 after buying an additional 1,060,007 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 481.2% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 328,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,461,000 after purchasing an additional 272,226 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 65.3% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 571,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,064,000 after purchasing an additional 225,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 2nd quarter worth $24,670,000. 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.