Vident Advisory LLC Decreases Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Vident Advisory LLC cut its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 24.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,814 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,533 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $891,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 8.7% in 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 buying an additional 451,630 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,688,494 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $419,697,000 after buying an additional 30,350 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $409,816,000 after buying an additional 815,629 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,179,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $362,636,000 after buying an additional 393,516 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $336,426,000. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on STLD shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price target on shares of Steel Dynamics and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.44.

Insider Activity

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 value of $1,013,773.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock traded down $2.64 on Friday, hitting $122.51. 398,348 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,522,812. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $125.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $18.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. Analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership 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.