Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Stake Reduced by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group lowered its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 58.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 216,918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 310,363 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.14% of Steel Dynamics worth $24,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 2.7 %

STLD opened at $127.36 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $128.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $104.60 and a one year high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.41%.

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.