Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Purchases 2,854 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 63.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,354 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,854 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $336,426,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased 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 worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,374,907 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $156,836,000 after purchasing an additional 11,672 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,027,341 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $117,189,000 after purchasing an additional 114,485 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on STLD. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup dropped 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

STLD stock traded up $2.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $120.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,674,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,502,335. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $126.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.70. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.17 and a 12-month high of $155.56. The company has a market capitalization of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS 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 in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.