Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 43,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 4,310 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $4,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $289,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,546,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $194,933,000 after purchasing an additional 96,122 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in 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 buying an additional 253,802 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,374,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,836,000 after buying an additional 11,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 12.5% in the 4th 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STLD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $123.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $18.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $126.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.77. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.