Stevens Capital Management LP Buys Shares of 2,546 Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,688,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $419,697,000 after acquiring an additional 30,350 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew 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 purchasing an additional 815,629 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew 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 purchasing an additional 393,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $336,426,000. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $130.83 on Friday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.17 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $131.27 and a 200 day moving average of $127.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.42 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 3.13.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The basic materials company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.04). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 6.07%. The company had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 29.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Steel Dynamics news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 81,812 shares in the company, valued at $10,971,807.32. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 owned 125,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. The trade was a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on STLD. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have issued 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 price target of $149.33.

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.