California Public Employees Retirement System Has $33.46 Million Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 293,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,268 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $33,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in 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 period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,123,000 after buying an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. 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 report on Monday, March 24th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $127.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $128.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.97. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (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 firm posted $2.61 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s 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.