Quarry LP Acquires Shares of 1,281 Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $146,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in 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 valued at $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $127.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $123.83 and a 200 day moving average of $128.14. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $103.17 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. 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 firm posted $3.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 26.42%.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on STLD. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 target price on shares of Steel Dynamics and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. 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 report on Monday, March 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.44.

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.