Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Stake Increased by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 45,491 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,573 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $5,189,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,027,000 after buying an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 18,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the 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 owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $122.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $128.22 and a 200-day moving average of $128.10. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on STLD. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.