Royal Bank of Canada Acquires 148,719 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 73.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 351,571 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 148,719 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.23% of Steel Dynamics worth $40,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Avalon Trust Co bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 1,400.0% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 450 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 541 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value of $1,013,773.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 125,319 shares in the company, valued at $16,950,647.94. This represents a 5.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Steel Dynamics stock traded up $2.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $127.53. The stock had a trading volume of 1,376,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,523,781. The firm's fifty day moving average is $125.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.70. The company has a market capitalization of $18.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.17 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion during 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 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 year.

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

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is 26.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on STLD shares. UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price objective on Steel Dynamics and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Company 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.