Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $5,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,008,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $118,787,000 after purchasing an additional 11,026 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $14,762,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 3.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 363,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,975,000 after buying an additional 10,942 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 514,888 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,808,000 after buying an additional 59,668 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $9,372,000. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $136.90 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $136.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.55 and a 12-month high of $151.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38 and a beta of 1.42.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The basic materials company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.22 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 29.49%. The company’s revenue was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.37 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 11.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Steel Dynamics from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.29.

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.