Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 160,421 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,901 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.11% of Steel Dynamics worth $18,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,688,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $419,697,000 after acquiring an additional 30,350 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth about $336,426,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,374,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,836,000 after purchasing an additional 11,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,027,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $117,189,000 after buying an additional 114,485 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 report on Monday, March 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Steel Dynamics stock opened at $122.65 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $126.93 and its 200-day moving average is $128.77. The company has a market cap of $18.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.17 and a 12 month high of $155.56. 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 (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 posted $2.61 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

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

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.30% 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.