Css LLC Il Acquires 540 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Css LLC Il boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the quarter. Css LLC Il’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 219,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,990,000 after purchasing an additional 9,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MFG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,337,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price target on shares of Steel Dynamics and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $1,013,773.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 125,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. The trade was a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $132.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $125.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.28. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.17 and a twelve month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.