Pitcairn Co. Boosts Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Pitcairn Co. raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,864 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 367 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted 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 worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased 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 valued at $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on STLD shares. BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, March 31st. BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research 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 an average target price of $149.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 5.9 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $109.21 on Monday. 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 has a market capitalization of $16.37 billion, a PE ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.07.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly 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 prior year, the business posted $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has approved a share buyback program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.