Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Position Reduced by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 21.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,100,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 559,937 shares during the period. Steel Dynamics makes up about 0.6% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $239,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after acquiring an additional 18,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $128.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $19.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average is $127.89 and its 200-day moving average is $127.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in 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 generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics 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.