Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $3.58 Million Stock Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD – Get Rating) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 50,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,253 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exos TFP Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 27.4% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Capital Analysts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 20.0% during the second quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 846 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 476.7% during the second quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on STLD shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $114.00 to $118.00 in a report on Friday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $109.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.67.

Steel Dynamics Stock Down 3.3 %

Steel Dynamics stock opened at $128.19 on Friday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.44 and a twelve month high of $136.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $117.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.93. The company has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.17 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 3.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The basic materials company reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.60 by $0.77. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 17.35% and a return on equity of 56.22%. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Investors of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.54%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, November 10th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Steel Dynamics

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Steel Dynamics, Inc engages in the manufacture of steel products and metal recycling. It operates through the following segments: Steel Operations, Metals Recycling Operations, and Steel Fabrication Operations. The Steel Operations segment consists of sheet products including hot roll, cold roll, and coated steel, long products including structural steel beams, pilings, and standard and premium grade rail, and steel finishing services such as turning, polishing, straightening, chamfering, threading, and precision saw-cutting.