State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 38.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 34,468 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $7,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,604,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $534,295,000 after purchasing an additional 152,254 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $221,817,000. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,410,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $182,604,000 after acquiring an additional 53,532 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,137,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $168,550,000 after acquiring an additional 202,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,034,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $153,290,000 after acquiring an additional 25,280 shares during the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 2.1 %

STLD opened at $112.84 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $121.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.54. The company has a market cap of $17.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.75 and a beta of 1.32. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.53 and a 1 year high of $151.34. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.81 earnings per share. Steel Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Monday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.43.

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.