National Pension Service Cuts Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

National Pension Service trimmed its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 246,644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,850 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $28,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of STLD. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1,051.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,176,000 after buying an additional 8,520 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,191 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,957 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 1,106 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 6,650 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction 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 $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $135.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $125.39 and a 200-day moving average of $127.37. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56.

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 return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.41%.

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.