Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 8,706 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lessened its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 56,810 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,706 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $6,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Commerce Bank grew its stake 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 worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted 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 during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 951 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,621 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on STLD. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised Steel Dynamics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $146.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD stock traded down $4.36 on Friday, hitting $130.71. 1,398,713 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,798,552. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $104.60 and a one year high of $155.56. The firm's 50 day moving average is $123.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.35. 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 earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.