Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Steel Dynamics Call Options (NASDAQ:STLD)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 25th, 2023

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD – Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 4,637 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 262% compared to the average daily volume of 1,281 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on STLD. BNP Paribas cut Steel Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $102.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 8th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.89.

View Our Latest Report on Steel Dynamics

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 48,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total transaction of $5,041,440.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 61,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,443,905.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 48,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total value of $5,041,440.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 61,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,443,905.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,717 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.80, for a total value of $181,658.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 83,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,789,229.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of STLD. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 111.4% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,498,796 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,514,000 after buying an additional 1,316,499 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 895.4% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,347,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211,848 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at about $90,665,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,207,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $771,198,000 after purchasing an additional 800,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,034,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,486,000 after buying an additional 684,975 shares during the last quarter. 81.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $101.62 on Wednesday. Steel Dynamics has a one year low of $90.55 and a one year high of $136.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.83 billion, a PE ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.77 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $103.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.16.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The basic materials company reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.54 by ($0.07). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $4.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.46 earnings per share. Steel Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 14.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, September 30th were issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 28th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.90%.

About Steel Dynamics

(Get Free Report)

Steel Dynamics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer and metal recycler in the United States. It operates through three segments: Steel Operations, Metals Recycling Operations, and Steel Fabrication Operations. 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 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.