Allianz SE Purchases New Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Allianz SE bought a new position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $336,426,000. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,400,000 after buying an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.6% in the 3rd 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 valued at $194,933,000 after purchasing an additional 96,122 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 0.9% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 11,672 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STLD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.56.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of STLD stock opened at $123.97 on Monday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The stock has a market cap of $18.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $128.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its 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 period last year, the firm posted $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.41%.

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

About Steel Dynamics

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.