Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Lowers Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund trimmed its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 399 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in STLD. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 77,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,126,000 after buying an additional 18,762 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 57.6% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 39,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,697,000 after purchasing an additional 14,533 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on STLD shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. One equities research 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.86.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ:STLD traded up $2.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $130.54. 1,064,732 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,321,850. The company has a fifty day moving average of $128.03 and a 200 day moving average of $130.06. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $95.53 and a twelve month high of $151.34. The company has a market capitalization of $20.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.05. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 22.89% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 21,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.81, for a total value of $2,873,010.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,265,376.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

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.