Cerity Partners LLC Sells 21,938 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 21,938 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $8,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 6,579 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth about $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,123,000 after buying an additional 2,287 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction 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 $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 4.2 %

STLD stock opened at $117.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $126.72 and its 200 day moving average is $128.72. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.17 and a 12-month high of $155.56. 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 (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 1.70%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STLD has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.67.

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.