Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 554,552 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 99,447 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $63,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $336,426,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in 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 buying an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its stake 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 worth $28,577,000 after buying an additional 164,895 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,495,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on STLD shares. 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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. UBS Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ STLD opened at $109.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $128.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the business posted $2.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.41%.

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

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.