Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) to Repurchase $1.50 billion in Outstanding Stock

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

STLD stock opened at $133.48 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $20.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.12. Steel Dynamics has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on STLD shares. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value 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 $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.