State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Has $5.76 Million Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury cut its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 29.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,448 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 21,536 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $5,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,027,000 after buying an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $158,487,000 after buying an additional 253,802 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.1% during 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. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 0.0 %

STLD stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $127.34. 774,474 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,503,196. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $124.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.17 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The firm has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 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 company had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase 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 generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 26.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on STLD shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.44.

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.