Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

by · The Markets Daily

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD – Free Report) by 34.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,568 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $1,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $336,426,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 433.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,816,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $227,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475,767 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 531.0% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,191,669 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $149,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,813 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,592,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $409,816,000 after buying an additional 815,629 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $642,033,000 after purchasing an additional 451,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.11, for a total value of $168,173.94. Following the transaction, the director owned 81,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,971,807.32. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 7,495 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value of $1,013,773.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 125,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,950,647.94. The trade was a 5.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ STLD opened at $131.15 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.17 and a 1 year high of $155.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 13.26%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on STLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.33.

Read Our Latest Analysis on STLD

Steel Dynamics Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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