Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 11,086 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 13.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,690 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,086 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $8,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $336,426,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 531.0% in the first 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 buying an additional 1,002,813 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position 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 buying an additional 815,629 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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 buying an additional 451,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 445,241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total value of $168,173.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 81,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,971,807.32. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were 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 now directly owns 125,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,950,647.94. The trade was a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $148.00.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of STLD stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $131.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,875,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,535,567. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $130.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.02. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.17 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.74. The company has a market cap of $19.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics Profile

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.