AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs Buys Shares of 8,005 Steel Dynamics, Inc. $STLD

Key Points

• AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs made a new investment in Steel Dynamics, acquiring 8,005 shares valued at approximately $985,000.
• Steel Dynamics reported earnings per share of $2.01 for the last quarter, which fell short of analysts' expectations of $2.05 and indicated a 1.5% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, resulting in a 1.5% yield for shareholders, payable on October 10th.

AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,005 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $985,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,308 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $654,000. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $349,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,904 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,472,000 after purchasing an additional 4,857 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 29,501 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,365,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of STLD traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $139.46. The company had a trading volume of 414,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,572,913. The company's 50 day moving average price is $129.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.17. The stock has a market cap of $20.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.40. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.17 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 6.07%.Steel Dynamics's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total transaction of $1,520,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 66,738 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,456,371.98. This represents a 15.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on STLD shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $143.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $149.40.

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.