Mizuho Securities USA LLC Raises Stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 44.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,114 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $1,531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in STLD. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $289,400,000 after buying an additional 1,060,007 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,434,000 after acquiring an additional 548,086 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 192.4% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 250,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,577,000 after acquiring an additional 164,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $16,495,000. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on STLD. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.1 %

Steel Dynamics stock opened at $128.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $19.19 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $128.38 and a 200 day moving average of $128.43. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $104.60 and a one year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 prior year, the firm posted $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.