Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Bought by Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 1,400.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $52,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $336,426,000. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $289,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 192.4% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 250,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,577,000 after purchasing an additional 164,895 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on STLD. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup cut their price target on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $123.97 on Monday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.60 and a 1 year high of $155.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $128.46 and a 200-day moving average of $128.80. 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 stock has a market cap of $18.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.61 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

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.