IFM Investors Pty Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. $STLD

Key Points

• IFM Investors Pty Ltd reduced its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. by 30.4%, selling 11,526 shares and holding a total of 26,409 shares valued at $3,303,000 as of their latest SEC filing.
• Several institutional investors have made significant changes to their positions in Steel Dynamics, with notable increases in ownership by firms like Cary Street Partners and Grove Bank & Trust.
• Steel Dynamics recently reported Q2 earnings of $2.01 EPS, falling short of analysts' expectations, with a quarterly revenue of $4.57 billion, down 1.5% compared to the previous year.

IFM Investors Pty Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 30.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,409 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,526 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 433.1% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,816,525 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $227,211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475,767 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,066,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $883,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,897 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 531.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the first quarter worth $62,470,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 18,398.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 447,661 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $55,993,000 after buying an additional 445,241 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $143.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $149.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

NASDAQ STLD traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $139.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 444,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,573,590. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40. The company's 50-day moving average is $129.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.05. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.17 and a 1-year high of $155.56.

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

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.15%.

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.