Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Holdings Lowered by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,376 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. owned about 0.06% of Steel Dynamics worth $10,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at $1,824,000. Maripau Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $304,000. Fielder Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 82,482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,409,000 after acquiring an additional 17,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 1,956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STLD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $135.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The firm has a market cap of $20.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.37. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics 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.