Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,473,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 294,823 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $185,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the second quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Steel Dynamics during the third quarter worth approximately $64,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.29.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ STLD opened at $139.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.31. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $128.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $127.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is 16.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total transaction of $950,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 116,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,723,707. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total transaction of $269,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,306,106. This trade represents a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,591 shares of company stock worth $3,608,438. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.