Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV Decreases Stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lowered its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 174 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $2,061,000 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 stock. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $349,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,152,812 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,501,000 after purchasing an additional 84,716 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $654,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 783,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,414,000 after purchasing an additional 219,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,829,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on STLD shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $134.78 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $20.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s fifty day moving average is $124.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.20. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.17 and a 1 year high of $155.56.

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

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.