Allstate Corp Purchases New Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Allstate Corp bought a new position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,364 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $498,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $220,000 after acquiring 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 fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,036 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

STLD stock traded down $11.30 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $116.06. 1,878,194 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,461,271. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.88. The company has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $104.60 and a one year high of $155.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $2.61 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.