Empirical Finance LLC Trims Stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 64.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,323 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of STLD. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060,007 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 192.4% during the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 250,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,577,000 after purchasing an additional 164,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $15,880,000. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ STLD opened at $134.86 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $123.68 and its 200 day moving average is $126.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76 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. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.61 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total transaction of $277,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,927,763.75. The trade was a 8.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STLD has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.22.

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.