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

National Bank of Canada FI decreased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 39.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 139,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 90,639 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.09% of Steel Dynamics worth $15,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 0.9% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Center For Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered 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. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 5.9 %

STLD opened at $109.21 on Friday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $128.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly 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 quarter last year, the business posted $2.61 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

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