Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 400 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after buying an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after buying an additional 18,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on STLD. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $127.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $127.38 and a 200-day moving average of $127.82. 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 fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.41%.

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.