Ethic Inc. Sells 3,829 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Ethic Inc. lowered its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,254 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,829 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $2,424,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of STLD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $336,426,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $409,816,000 after acquiring an additional 815,629 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $642,033,000 after acquiring an additional 451,630 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,179,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $362,636,000 after acquiring an additional 393,516 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,775,286 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $202,507,000 after acquiring an additional 259,361 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ STLD traded up $0.98 during trading on Friday, hitting $134.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,095,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,509,464. 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 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $20.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $124.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.20.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.67 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Steel Dynamics's payout ratio is 26.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STLD has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.44.

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.