Avalon Trust Co Invests $42,000 in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Avalon Trust Co bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Commerce Bank increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $754,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 0.9% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Center For Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STLD has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $127.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.89. 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 (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued 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 return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

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.