Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $16.50 Million in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 144,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,495,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.09% of Steel Dynamics as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 85.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,295,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $289,400,000 after buying an additional 1,060,007 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,546,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $194,933,000 after purchasing an additional 96,122 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,374,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,836,000 after purchasing an additional 11,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,027,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $117,189,000 after purchasing an additional 114,485 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STLD opened at $124.94 on Tuesday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $127.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $2.61 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on STLD. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.56.

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.