Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 20.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 7,200 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $5,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total transaction of $168,173.94. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 81,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $1,013,773.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 125,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. This represents a 5.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.2%

STLD opened at $133.48 on Friday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $103.17 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $127.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.67 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

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 $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.42%.

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.