Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Short Interest Update

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,750,000 shares, an increase of 24.2% from the December 15th total of 3,020,000 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total transaction of $950,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 116,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,723,707. This trade represents a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total transaction of $277,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,927,763.75. This represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STLD. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $410,000. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 12,458 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STLD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $145.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.13.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of STLD stock traded down $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $125.00. 875,198 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,715,710. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.49. The firm has a market cap of $19.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 1.36. Steel Dynamics has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The business had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.47 earnings per share. Steel Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 9.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.65%.

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.