Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 237,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 22,490 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $28,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in STLD. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 20,746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,224,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 25,697 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,755,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $233,000. Strategic Investment Advisors MI acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,067,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 39,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,182,000 after buying an additional 3,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $129.65 on Thursday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.55 and a 1 year high of $151.34. The stock has a market cap of $20.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $137.78 and a 200-day moving average of $122.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.87.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The basic materials company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $0.13. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 27.62% and a net margin of 12.89%. The company had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 12.41 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 paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.64%.

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.