Renaissance Technologies LLC Decreases Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Free Report) by 89.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,900 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 110,538 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC's holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $1,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 448,942 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $56,603,000 after acquiring an additional 80,262 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Steel Dynamics during the third quarter valued at $15,880,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the third quarter worth $25,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.4% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,413 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,330,000 after buying an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at $650,000. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STLD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price objective on Steel Dynamics and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Steel Dynamics stock traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $130.29. 1,274,178 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,501,634. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $123.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.16. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.17 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The company has a market cap of $19.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Steel Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics Company 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.