Moran Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Moran Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 614 shares during the quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $8,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,027,000 after buying an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,376,000 after buying an additional 18,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Steel Dynamics stock opened at $125.03 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.80. The stock has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. 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 $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.