Hsbc Holdings PLC Increases Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 748,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,427 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.49% of Steel Dynamics worth $85,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on 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 $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of STLD stock opened at $122.47 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.17 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $124.41 and its 200 day moving average is $128.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.67 EPS. On average, equities research 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 buyback program 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 buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STLD has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.11.

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.