Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Stake Decreased by Freedom Investment Management Inc.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 4.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 676 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $1,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 221,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,911,000 after acquiring an additional 8,756 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the third quarter worth approximately $61,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 532.6% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 5,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,926,000 after buying an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STLD has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.29.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total transaction of $269,720.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,306,106. This represents a 10.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This represents a 10.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,885,938 in the last 90 days. 6.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.1 %

STLD stock opened at $143.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $21.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.31. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year high of $155.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 9.80%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 16.65%.

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.