Raymond James Trust N.A. Takes Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 7.0% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,138,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $276,891,000 after acquiring an additional 140,042 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,768,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,999,000 after purchasing an additional 22,390 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,410,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $182,604,000 after purchasing an additional 53,532 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 592,255 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $76,697,000 after purchasing an additional 10,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 65.3% in the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 571,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,064,000 after buying an additional 225,832 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on STLD shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.29.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $143.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.31. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.68.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. Steel Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.47 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 16.65%.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total transaction of $269,720.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,306,106. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This represents a 10.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

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.