Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.09 Million Investment in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 9,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,087,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Greenfield Savings Bank increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank now owns 11,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 44,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,776,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 8,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on STLD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.17.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $134.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $21.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.55 and a 52-week high of $151.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $136.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.97.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The basic materials company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.22 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 29.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 14th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 12.61%.

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.