Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Sells 126 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lowered its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 126 shares during the period. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $1,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its position 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 worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after buying an additional 18,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in 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 valued at $158,487,000 after buying an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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

A number of research firms recently weighed in on STLD. StockNews.com lowered Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

STLD stock opened at $135.07 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $125.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.37. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 20.41%.

About Steel Dynamics

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.