Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec cut its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 84.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 130,768 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 690,157 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.09% of Steel Dynamics worth $14,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of STLD traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $130.75. 1,276,076 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,498,311. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.17 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.15. 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 $19.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 target price on shares of Steel Dynamics and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $147.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Profile

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.