CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Sells 56,255 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co reduced its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 169,070 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 56,255 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.11% of Steel Dynamics worth $19,271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in STLD. Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $466,000. Bridgewater Associates LP grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 235,414 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,854,000 after buying an additional 34,752 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 6,214 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $23,252,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth $326,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 research report on Monday, March 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $147.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other 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 value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the sale, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 0.0 %

STLD stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $127.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 774,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,501,399. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $124.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.17. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.17 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The company has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.67 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect 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 of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.