JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) Stock Price

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $138.00 to $150.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.41% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on STLD. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.33.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ STLD opened at $128.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $131.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.37. Steel Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $103.17 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 13.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total transaction of $168,173.94. Following the sale, the director owned 81,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value of $1,013,773.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 125,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. This trade represents a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 7,145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $915,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the second quarter worth $339,000. Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the second quarter valued at $221,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 11.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 83,818 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,694,000 after buying an additional 7,915 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

About Steel Dynamics

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.