Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Increases Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 39.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,895 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 8,391 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in STLD. Praxis Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 63.5% during the 1st quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,090 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,074,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 6,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 194.7% in the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 277 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 86,991 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,881,000 after purchasing an additional 4,509 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on STLD shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $148.00.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $1,013,773.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 125,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,950,647.94. This represents a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total transaction of $168,173.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 81,812 shares in the company, valued at $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 owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 3.2%

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $125.90 on Monday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $129.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.13. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.17 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The company has a market capitalization of $18.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.74.

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

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.42%.

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

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.

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