Bailard Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Bailard Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 462 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. owned 0.06% of Steel Dynamics worth $11,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,008,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $118,787,000 after purchasing an additional 11,026 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,762,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 363,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,975,000 after buying an additional 10,942 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 514,888 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,808,000 after buying an additional 59,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,612,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $280,105,000 after buying an additional 19,833 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

STLD stock traded down $4.24 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $129.92. The company had a trading volume of 2,557,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,199,661. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.97. The company has a market cap of $20.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.91. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $90.55 and a twelve month high of $151.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The basic materials company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $0.13. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 29.49%. The company had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.01 EPS. Steel Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 12.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on STLD shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.17.

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.