Oak Thistle LLC Makes New $1.73 Million Investment in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 15,120 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,725,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $289,400,000 after buying an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 116.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $128,434,000 after acquiring an additional 548,086 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 65.3% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 571,787 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $74,064,000 after purchasing an additional 225,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the second quarter worth approximately $24,670,000. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total transaction of $269,720.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,306,106. This trade represents a 10.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total transaction of $2,387,767.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 10.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,885,938 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ STLD traded up $1.66 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $125.18. 1,361,136 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,802,070. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.50. The stock has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.36. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.47 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on STLD shares. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $149.00 price target (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.13.

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.