Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,688,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,350 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $419,697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Diametric Capital LP purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $236,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 14,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Partners in Financial Planning purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $856,000. Allianz SE bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth $358,000. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1,400.0% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $109.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $128.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.87. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. 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. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

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.