Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 31,614 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. $STLD

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP has significantly reduced its stake in Steel Dynamics, selling 31,614 shares and now holding only 27,320 shares valued at approximately $3.4 million.
• Multiple large investors have increased their holdings in Steel Dynamics, with Korea Investment CORP upping its stake by 8.9% and Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosting it by 203.2% during the first quarter.
• Steel Dynamics announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, with an expected 1.5% annual yield, set to be paid out to shareholders of record on September 30th.

Wellington Management Group LLP trimmed its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 53.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,320 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 31,614 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $258,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,775,286 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $202,507,000 after purchasing an additional 259,361 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,795,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 79,882 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,112,000 after purchasing an additional 15,284 shares during the period. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $1,847,000. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Steel Dynamics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $148.70.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of STLD stock traded down $0.01 on Wednesday, hitting $129.01. 493,849 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,593,525. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.17 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $129.39 and a 200 day moving average of $128.17. The stock has a market cap of $18.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.40.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 6.07%.The firm's revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In related news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total transaction of $168,173.94. Following the sale, the director owned 81,812 shares in the company, valued at $10,971,807.32. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total value of $1,520,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 66,738 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,456,371.98. The trade was a 15.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

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.