Park Avenue Securities LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 34.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 874 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Stablepoint Partners LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 11,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,427,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the first quarter worth $130,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STLD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 target price on Steel Dynamics and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total value of $168,173.94. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 81,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value of $1,013,773.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 125,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. The trade was a 5.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $133.48 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $127.95 and its 200 day moving average is $126.68. The stock has a market cap of $19.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.17 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.17 billion. 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 $3.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.