Leavell Investment Management Inc. Lowers Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 607 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 85.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after buying an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 192.4% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 250,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,577,000 after acquiring an additional 164,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at $15,880,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $134.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $104.60 and a 12-month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results 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 company posted $2.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total value of $277,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,927,763.75. The trade was a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on STLD. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.22.

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.