Empirical Finance LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Empirical Finance LLC cut its holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 2.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 415.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 107,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,734,000 after purchasing an additional 86,902 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 792 shares during the last quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $241,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,008,000 after acquiring an additional 1,999 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on STLD shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.14.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $119.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $124.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.48. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.53 and a 1-year high of $151.34. The firm has a market cap of $18.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.21 and a beta of 1.35.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.05. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.74 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 12.64%.

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.