Diametric Capital LP Invests $236,000 in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Diametric Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,068 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of STLD. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Steel Dynamics Stock Down 8.9 %

NASDAQ STLD traded down $11.30 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $116.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,878,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,461,271. The company has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. 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, 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 $128.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.88.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $2.61 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STLD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $149.67.

Insider Activity

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.