92,527 Shares in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Bought by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 92,527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,555,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned 0.06% of Steel Dynamics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of STLD. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 759,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,662,000 after acquiring an additional 38,185 shares during the period. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 63,965 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,296,000 after acquiring an additional 11,308 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,870,000 after acquiring an additional 74,259 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,374,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,836,000 after acquiring an additional 11,672 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at $16,448,593.80. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of STLD stock opened at $127.14 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $127.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $127.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (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 period last year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. Research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on STLD. 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.