Acadian Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Acadian Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 25.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 849,751 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 287,479 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.54% of Steel Dynamics worth $110,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,604,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $534,295,000 after purchasing an additional 152,254 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at $221,817,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,034,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $153,290,000 after acquiring an additional 25,280 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 743,697 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,831,000 after acquiring an additional 98,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 592,255 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $76,697,000 after acquiring an additional 10,701 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.86.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

STLD opened at $111.00 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $122.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.17. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.53 and a 1 year high of $151.34. The stock has a market cap of $17.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.05. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 12.64%.

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.