Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 9,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,087,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of STLD. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 30.4% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 16.5% in the third quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics in the third quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 13.5% in the third quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 64.1% in the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 11,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after acquiring an additional 4,465 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on STLD. UBS Group decreased their target price on Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.17.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

STLD opened at $134.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.55 and a 1-year high of $151.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $136.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.97.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The basic materials company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.22 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 29.49% and a net margin of 13.04%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.37 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 11.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 12.61%.

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.