Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 14.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,025 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 3,216 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 20.9% during the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 41,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the last quarter. BFI Infinity Ltd. acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics during the first quarter worth $285,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 1,411.1% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,425,000 after purchasing an additional 25,569 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 47.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signet Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% in the first quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 43,793 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,478,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value of $1,013,773.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 125,319 shares in the company, valued at $16,950,647.94. The trade was a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $140.00 price target on Steel Dynamics and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.2%

STLD opened at $133.48 on Monday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.17 and a 12 month high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $19.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $127.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.42%.

Steel Dynamics Company 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.