Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 39.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 139,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 90,639 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $15,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of STLD. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during 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 period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,123,000 after buying an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Steel Dynamics 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 value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $109.21 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $128.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.87. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised 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. Morgan Stanley raised Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.67.

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.