Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 160,421 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 20,901 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.11% of Steel Dynamics worth $18,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on STLD. StockNews.com upgraded Steel Dynamics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $119.01. 278,353 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,498,545. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.68. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.17 and a 12-month high of $155.56. The stock has a market cap of $17.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

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

About Steel Dynamics

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.