Victory Capital Management Inc. Acquires 10,758 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 4.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 266,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,758 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $33,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 126.6% during the 1st quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 7,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 3,986 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2,679.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 10,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,611,000 after buying an additional 10,476 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 21,966 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,256,000 after acquiring an additional 4,599 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 372.0% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 8,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 7,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 230,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,904,000 after acquiring an additional 19,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on STLD shares. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.29.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $139.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.09. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.47 EPS. Steel Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.1 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total value of $269,720.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,306,106. This represents a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 10.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,591 shares of company stock worth $3,608,438. Corporate insiders own 6.00% 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.