QRG Capital Management Inc. Acquires 4,509 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 5.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 86,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,509 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $10,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,911 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $1,013,773.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 125,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,950,647.94. This trade represents a 5.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total transaction of $168,173.94. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 81,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,971,807.32. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on STLD. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ STLD opened at $132.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day moving average is $128.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.47. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.17 and a 52-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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.42%.

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.