World Investment Advisors LLC Invests $15.88 Million in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 125,954 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $15,880,000. World Investment Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Steel Dynamics at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,748 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,289 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 56.3% during the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 5,480 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,975 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 50.7% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,965 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 10.4% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,026 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $146.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 5.0 %

Shares of STLD stock traded down $6.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $126.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,776,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,279,736. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 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's fifty day simple moving average is $137.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.09. The company has a market cap of $19.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.47 EPS. Steel Dynamics's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.65%.

Steel Dynamics Company 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.