Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Purchased by FIL Ltd

FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 1,310.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 163,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 151,757 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned about 0.11% of Steel Dynamics worth $18,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,688,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $419,697,000 after acquiring an additional 30,350 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $336,426,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,374,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,836,000 after buying an additional 11,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,027,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $117,189,000 after buying an additional 114,485 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on STLD shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group upgraded 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. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ STLD opened at $120.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.17 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.70.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 last year, the firm earned $2.61 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

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

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.