Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd Makes New $14.83 Million Investment in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 130,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,829,000. Steel Dynamics makes up approximately 10.8% of Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of STLD. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $642,033,000 after buying an additional 451,630 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,688,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $419,697,000 after acquiring an additional 30,350 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings 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 worth $409,816,000 after acquiring an additional 815,629 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $336,426,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $131.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.44. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $123.61 and a 200 day moving average of $128.15. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.17 and a 12 month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders 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 1.52%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.42%.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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 report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price objective on Steel Dynamics and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.44.

About Steel Dynamics

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.