Maripau Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Maripau Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $304,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fielder Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 82,482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,409,000 after buying an additional 17,489 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 1,956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $10,555,000. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 27,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,091,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on STLD. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $135.07 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $125.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.30. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The company has a market cap of $20.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $2.61 EPS. Analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued 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 is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.