HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 88,917 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,360 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Steel Dynamics worth $10,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Center For Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $127.14 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.89. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. 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 quarterly 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 return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on STLD shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.56.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics 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.