Independent Advisor Alliance Has $671,000 Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 43,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,949,000 after buying an additional 4,310 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 36,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after acquiring an additional 5,231 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 250.9% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,227 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth about $3,608,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,347 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ STLD opened at $127.14 on Monday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $127.38 and its 200-day moving average is $127.89. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $104.60 and a one year high of $155.56. The firm has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com raised Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.56.

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.