Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Short Interest Up 23.7% in May

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,180,000 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the May 15th total of 2,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,700,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value of $1,013,773.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 125,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. This trade represents a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total value of $168,173.94. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 81,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $336,426,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 433.1% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,816,525 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $227,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475,767 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 25.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,066,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $883,854,000 after buying an additional 1,437,897 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 531.0% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,191,669 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $149,054,000 after buying an additional 1,002,813 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $409,816,000 after buying an additional 815,629 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on STLD shares. BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price target on Steel Dynamics and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Steel Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD traded down $3.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $130.11. 1,927,309 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,538,747. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $128.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.52. The company has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.74. Steel Dynamics has a 52 week low of $103.17 and a 52 week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 13.26%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

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

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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