Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $5.20 Million Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 20.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,600 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,200 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $5,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $336,426,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.7% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 451,630 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 18,398.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 447,661 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,993,000 after acquiring an additional 445,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,179,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $362,636,000 after acquiring an additional 393,516 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock traded up $1.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $133.48. 1,258,551 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,543,006. The stock has a market cap of $19.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $127.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.68. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.17 and a 12 month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.67 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.42%.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $1,013,773.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 125,319 shares in the company, valued at $16,950,647.94. This trade represents a 5.64% 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 Steel Dynamics 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 sale, the director now owns 81,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. 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 report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $147.44.

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.