Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Invests $158,000 in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $158,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 548,086 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 192.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 3rd quarter worth $15,880,000. Institutional investors 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on STLD shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.22.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $133.48 on Wednesday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $124.31 and a 200 day moving average of $127.08. The company has a market capitalization of $20.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. This is a boost 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 presently 18.78%.

About Steel Dynamics

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.