Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,950 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $8,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,602 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after acquiring an additional 253,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STLD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.67.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STLD opened at $125.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.75 billion, a PE ratio of 12.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $128.45 and a 200 day moving average of $128.90.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.