Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by New York Life Investment Management LLC

New York Life Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 102 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $2,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $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 worth $4,027,000 after buying an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 18,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STLD. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp raised 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. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group restated 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $135.07 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $125.39 and a 200-day moving average of $127.46. The company has a market cap of $20.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78, a price-to-earnings-growth 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.