Farringdon Capital Ltd. Takes $466,000 Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,084 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $336,426,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $128,434,000 after acquiring an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super bought a new position in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,252,000. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 90.3% during the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 406,343 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $46,352,000 after purchasing an additional 192,767 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock traded up $5.81 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $123.20. 1,010,868 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,507,585. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.47 billion, a PE ratio of 12.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $124.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.23. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.17 and a 1-year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.11.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 directly owns 122,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

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.