Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 5,203 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 13.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,203 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of STLD. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 91.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. 81.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, Director Bradley S. Seaman sold 4,717 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.72, for a total value of $517,549.24. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,097,810.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 31st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.89.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

NASDAQ STLD opened at $111.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 3.77. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.55 and a 52-week high of $136.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.58. The stock has a market cap of $18.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.47.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The basic materials company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.54 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $4.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 13.73%. The firm’s revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.46 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, November 3rd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 31st will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 28th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.90%.

About Steel Dynamics

Steel Dynamics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer and metal recycler in the United States. It operates through three segments: Steel Operations, Metals Recycling Operations, and Steel Fabrication Operations. 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 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.