American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. $STLD

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. has increased its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. by 9.5%, now owning 287,757 shares valued at approximately $35.99 million.
• The company's recent earnings report showed a missed EPS estimate with $2.01, as well as a year-over-year revenue decline of 1.5% to $4.57 billion.
• Steel Dynamics declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50, which translates to an annualized dividend of $2.00 and a yield of 1.6%.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 9.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 287,757 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 24,910 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.19% of Steel Dynamics worth $35,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 6,214 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 559 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 37,537 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,282,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,162 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 748,168 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $85,386,000 after purchasing an additional 38,427 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $642,033,000 after purchasing an additional 451,630 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on STLD. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Steel Dynamics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $148.70.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock traded down $1.69 on Tuesday, hitting $131.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 503,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,612,929. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 3.13. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.17 and a 1 year high of $155.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $129.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.24. The company has a market capitalization of $19.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.38.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.04). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 6.07%.The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.72 earnings per share. Steel Dynamics's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 29.15%.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total transaction of $1,520,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 66,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,456,371.98. The trade was a 15.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total value of $168,173.94. Following the sale, the director owned 81,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. This trade 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 currently owned by insiders.

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.