Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 13,576 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 82,776 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 13,576 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $9,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after buying an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after buying an additional 18,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after buying an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics 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 owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Steel Dynamics stock opened at $133.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year high of $155.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $124.31 and a 200-day moving average of $127.08. 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 (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

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

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 18.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.22.

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.