Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 515 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 10.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 515 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Csenge Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.8% during the second quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,939 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 23,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,050,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.1% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.5% in the second quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 18,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,429,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total value of $950,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 116,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,723,707. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total value of $269,720.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,306,106. This trade represents a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,438. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on STLD. Bank of America raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.29.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD stock opened at $140.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.39. The firm has a market cap of $21.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 1.31. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.14.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.47 EPS. Steel Dynamics’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 16.65%.

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.