Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Increases Dividend to $0.50 Per Share

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a 8.7% increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46.

Steel Dynamics has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Steel Dynamics has a payout ratio of 16.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Steel Dynamics to earn $12.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.5%.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD stock opened at $123.97 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics has a 12-month low of $104.60 and a 12-month high of $155.56.

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

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup decreased their price target on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.56.

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.