Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc.

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lowered its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,848 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,661 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc.'s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $1,921,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $289,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060,007 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 116.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $128,434,000 after buying an additional 548,086 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 192.4% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 250,621 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $28,577,000 after buying an additional 164,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $16,495,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company's stock.

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Steel Dynamics Trading Down 3.1 %

STLD stock traded down $3.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $122.67. 6,338,091 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,389,788. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $128.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.98. The company has a market capitalization of $18.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. 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 (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period last year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 the SEC website. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on STLD. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $148.56.

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.