California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 24,557 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 308,121 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 24,557 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.19% of Steel Dynamics worth $36,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 61,236 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,272 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 27,490 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,793 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,034,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,274 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 10,698 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:STLD traded up $1.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $134.04. The stock had a trading volume of 1,053,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,062,030. The company has a market capitalization of $21.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.21 and a beta of 1.42. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.55 and a 1-year high of $151.34. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $137.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The basic materials company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.54 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 27.62% and a net margin of 12.89%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 11.79 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $121.17.

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.