Swiss National Bank Trims Stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 414,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 29,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.27% of Steel Dynamics worth $47,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,354 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 5,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $671,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 43,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,949,000 after acquiring an additional 4,310 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 36,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after acquiring an additional 5,231 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $127.14 on Monday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $127.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.89. 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 company has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $2.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on STLD. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. 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 upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.56.

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.