Lazard Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 84.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,528 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 14,206 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,036 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 125,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,950,647.94. This trade represents a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ STLD traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $128.49. 112,405 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,521,656. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.17 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The firm has a market cap of $19.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.10, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal 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 buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on STLD. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $147.44.

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.