Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Sold by Freedom Investment Management Inc.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 56.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,347 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,256 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Steel Dynamics by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of STLD stock opened at $118.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The stock has a market cap of $17.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s fifty day moving average is $125.36 and its 200-day moving average is $128.40. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.17 and a 1 year high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.61 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. This is a boost from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, February 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four 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, Steel Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total value of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.