Allianz SE Purchases Shares of 3,150 Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 532.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 17.3% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 2,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 4.0% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 31,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $194,933,000 after acquiring an additional 96,122 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $123.97 on Monday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week 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 quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $2.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding 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 an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics 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.