Freedom Investment Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. $STLD

Freedom Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 7.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 424 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 47.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 1,159 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 31.6% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 27,511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,441,000 after purchasing an additional 6,604 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 2.4% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 58,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,280,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 124.1% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 948 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 1.6% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $155.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $145.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.44.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

STLD stock opened at $152.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $22.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.40. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.17 and a 12-month high of $156.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $137.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.80.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 6.39%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total transaction of $1,520,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 66,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,456,371.98. This represents a 15.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

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.