Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Decreases Stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board trimmed its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 26.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 32,012 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,565 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,745,326 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $401,574,000 after purchasing an additional 12,208 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,612,430 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $280,105,000 after acquiring an additional 19,833 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,024,978 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $217,118,000 after acquiring an additional 122,507 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 165.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,014,956 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $212,447,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,817,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday. They issued a "hold" rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $125.29.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STLD traded down $1.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $132.73. The company had a trading volume of 984,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,172,731. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.55 and a 52 week high of $151.34. The firm has a market cap of $20.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 1.47. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $138.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.99.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The basic materials company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.54 by $0.13. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 12.89% and a return on equity of 27.62%. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.01 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 12.36 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 12.64%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 21,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.81, for a total transaction of $2,873,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,265,376.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.10% 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.