Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,273 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,041 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $1,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060,007 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $128,434,000 after buying an additional 548,086 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during 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. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 192.4% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 250,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,577,000 after buying an additional 164,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the third quarter valued at about $15,880,000. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $130.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $125.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.54. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a market capitalization of $19.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company posted $2.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.