Oak Thistle LLC Acquires New Stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,304 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,217,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 165.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,014,956 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $212,447,000 after buying an additional 1,255,751 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $90,665,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 183.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,380,388 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $115,166,000 after buying an additional 893,705 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,207,455 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $771,198,000 after buying an additional 800,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,034,652 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $296,486,000 after buying an additional 684,975 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STLD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $118.13.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STLD traded down $1.36 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $147.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 917,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,218,612. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.55 and a 12-month high of $151.34. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $130.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $23.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 1.42.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The basic materials company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.63 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.22 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 29.49% and a net margin of 13.04%. Steel Dynamics's quarterly revenue was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.37 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, April 14th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 12.61%.

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.