Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) saw a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, a decrease of 15.9% from the February 13th total of 3,970,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,740,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.56.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Steel Dynamics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 532.6% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of STLD opened at $125.65 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Steel Dynamics has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $127.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.93. The firm has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.61 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.