Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Has $2.45 Million Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 85.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,938 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $2,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 219,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,990,000 after purchasing an additional 9,462 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 37,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,323,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $684,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 74.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,118,000 after purchasing an additional 7,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Center For Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on STLD. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 target price (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Steel Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.38.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total transaction of $950,950.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard A. Poinsatte sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total transaction of $277,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 21,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,927,763.75. This trade represents a 8.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 1.2 %

STLD stock opened at $130.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.60 and a 1-year high of $155.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $126.04 and its 200 day moving average is $126.36. The stock has a market cap of $19.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 1.36.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 17.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.78%.

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.