Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD)

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 11,772 call options on the company. This is an increase of 760% compared to the typical volume of 1,369 call options.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total transaction of $269,720.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,306,106. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 4.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,604,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $534,295,000 after purchasing an additional 152,254 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,138,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $276,891,000 after acquiring an additional 140,042 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,768,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,999,000 after acquiring an additional 22,390 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 3.9% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,410,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $182,604,000 after acquiring an additional 53,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 21.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,137,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $168,550,000 after purchasing an additional 202,312 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STLD. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.29.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $147.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $125.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.72. Steel Dynamics has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 1.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 9.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.47 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.65%.

About Steel Dynamics

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.