Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 11,672 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,374,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,672 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.90% of Steel Dynamics worth $156,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 18,647 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 0.2 %

STLD opened at $125.03 on Friday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $126.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.60.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 20.41%.

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

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.