Legal & General Group Plc Has $138.27 Million Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 26.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,212,113 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 441,778 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.80% of Steel Dynamics worth $138,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on STLD shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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 research report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. KeyCorp raised 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, February 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of STLD stock traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $119.01. 286,883 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,898,368. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $17.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $126.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.60. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.17 and a 52 week high of $155.56.

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 return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.