Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $13.12 Million Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 27.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 114,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 25,064 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $13,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of STLD. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,816 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,021,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 20,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,544,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, Commerce Bank boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STLD has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of STLD stock opened at $122.67 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’s 50-day moving average is $128.22 and its 200-day moving average is $128.00. The stock has a market cap of $18.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

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.