Ballentine Partners LLC Buys Shares of 1,983 Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,983 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $336,426,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 531.0% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,191,669 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $149,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,813 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $409,816,000 after purchasing an additional 815,629 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $642,033,000 after purchasing an additional 451,630 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 18,398.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 447,661 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,993,000 after purchasing an additional 445,241 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on STLD. BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $149.33.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD stock traded up $3.68 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $131.15. 1,514,975 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,528,580. The company has a market cap of $19.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. The company's 50 day moving average is $131.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.19. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.17 and a 1 year high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

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

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total value of $168,173.94. Following the sale, the director owned 81,812 shares in the company, valued at $10,971,807.32. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value 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. This represents a 5.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

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.