Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 451,630 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 451,630 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 3.70% of Steel Dynamics worth $642,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ STLD traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $127.34. 774,474 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,503,196. 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 1-year low of $103.17 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The stock has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.16.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.42%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price objective on Steel Dynamics and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Steel Dynamics 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.