Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 280 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,354 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 280 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 5,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 43,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,949,000 after buying an additional 4,310 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 16.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 250.9% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,227 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on STLD. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.56.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $122.67 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $128.22 and a 200 day moving average of $128.00. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $2.61 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.