Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Purchased by MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH

MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 1,503.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,634 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 17,472 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $2,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,034 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,273 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $601,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 8,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $919,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,238 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,556 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,003,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on STLD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price target on shares of Steel Dynamics and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $147.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the director now directly owns 81,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock traded down $3.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $130.11. 1,927,309 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,538,353. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $128.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.54. The stock has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.38. 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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 13.26% and a net margin of 6.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.