Checchi Capital Advisers LLC Has $220,000 Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 322 shares during the quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.0% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STLD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their target price on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price target (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of STLD stock opened at $133.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.17. 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 (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.61 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board 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.