Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Now Covered by The Goldman Sachs Group

Equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 6.70% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.63.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ STLD opened at $145.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $135.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.82. Steel Dynamics has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.47 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics 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 value of $269,720.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,306,106. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 146,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 10.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,885,938. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the first quarter worth about $337,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 172.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,590,000 after acquiring an additional 15,321 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 189.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 9,273 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 6,074 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 27.0% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the second quarter worth $41,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently 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.