Banco Santander S.A. Buys Shares of 1,922 Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of STLD. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the second quarter worth $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STLD has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. 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 research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.29.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ STLD opened at $143.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $132.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.46. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 16.65%.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at $19,523,371.37. The trade was a 10.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total transaction of $269,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,306,106. This represents a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.