AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Has $32.51 Million Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 50.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 259,894 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 268,763 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned about 0.17% of Steel Dynamics worth $32,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,354 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 45,491 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,189,000 after purchasing an additional 4,573 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 38,505 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,967 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 78.5% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 36,184 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,128,000 after buying an additional 15,914 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $131.63. The company had a trading volume of 928,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,524,282. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $131.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.39, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.37. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $103.17 and a one year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 13.26%. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.67 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is presently 26.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STLD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. 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 research note on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $149.33.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total transaction of $168,173.94. Following the transaction, the director owned 81,812 shares in the company, valued at $10,971,807.32. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $1,013,773.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 125,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. The trade was a 5.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.