Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 21.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 18,647 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position 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 worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 1.7 %

STLD stock opened at $124.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $127.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.93.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 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 earned $2.61 EPS. Research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan 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 purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.56.

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.