Ethic Inc. Trims Stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. $STLD

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. has reduced its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. by 14.1%, ending the first quarter with 18,265 shares valued at approximately $2.27 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Victory Capital Management and Robeco Institutional Asset Management, have significantly increased their stakes in Steel Dynamics by over 400% in the same period.
• Steel Dynamics announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, with a yield of 1.6%, to be paid on October 10th to investors of record.

Ethic Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 14.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,265 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,989 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $2,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 433.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,816,525 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $227,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475,767 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 531.0% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,191,669 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $149,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,813 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $409,816,000 after acquiring an additional 815,629 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at $62,470,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in 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 worth $642,033,000 after purchasing an additional 451,630 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Steel Dynamics 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 value of $1,520,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 66,738 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,456,371.98. The trade was a 15.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $168,173.94. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 81,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,749 shares of company stock valued at $2,702,468 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $126.42 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.21. 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 0.43, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $4.57 billion for 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 was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.72 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Steel Dynamics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $148.70.

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.

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