Empirical Finance LLC Reduces Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Empirical Finance LLC trimmed its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 64.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,384 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,323 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 40,958 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,672,000 after buying an additional 3,672 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 75,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,562,000 after purchasing an additional 4,833 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 302,535 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,510,000 after purchasing an additional 62,478 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 6.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

STLD stock traded up $2.95 during trading on Friday, hitting $135.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,608,294 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,674,464. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 1.35. The company's 50-day moving average price is $123.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.46.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company's 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 owns 122,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $146.22.

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.