Quantessence Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 10,146 Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,146 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,157,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $113.55 on Tuesday. 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 $17.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $124.98 and a 200 day moving average of $128.31. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.17 and a 12 month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $2.61 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STLD has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.11.

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.