Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 230,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 27,989 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $26,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Steel Dynamics by 532.6% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 17.3% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 2,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 4.0% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 31,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 6.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,546,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $194,933,000 after buying an additional 96,122 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’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 directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on STLD. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $123.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $128.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.80. The stock has a market cap of $18.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $104.60 and a one year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm posted $2.61 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics 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.