Allstate Corp Invests $498,000 in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,364 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $498,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,267,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. 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 note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD stock opened at $124.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.61 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid 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 (DPR) is currently 20.41%.

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.