Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 15.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,829 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $2,424,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of STLD. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 783,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,414,000 after buying an additional 219,787 shares during the last quarter. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,829,000. Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Crestline Management LP lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 728.7% during the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 92,125 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,509,000 after purchasing an additional 81,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STLD has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

STLD opened at $130.52 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $123.59 and its 200-day moving average is $128.11. The stock has a market cap of $19.56 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.17 and a twelve month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.67 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other 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 directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.