Blueshift Asset Management LLC Has $791,000 Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 259.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,931 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 5,004 shares during the quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 27.2% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,076,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 10,197.8% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,181,000 after buying an additional 9,280 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,021,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.1% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 20,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,544,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ STLD opened at $128.52 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $127.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.99. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.61 EPS. Equities analysts expect 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 stock buyback program 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 programs are often an indication that the company’s management 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on STLD. Morgan Stanley raised Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 target price (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.56.

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.