Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 310,363 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Schroder Investment Management Group reduced its position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 58.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 216,918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 310,363 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $24,585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 48.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 12,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 4,195 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,417,000. Point72 Italy S.r.l. purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the third quarter worth $2,005,000. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 4.2% in the third quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 11,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on STLD. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with 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 price target of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of STLD opened at $127.36 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $128.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders 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 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.