Short Interest in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Declines By 25.8%

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,960,000 shares, a decrease of 25.8% from the November 15th total of 3,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In other news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,306,106. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 146,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This trade represents a 10.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,591 shares of company stock worth $3,885,938 in the last 90 days. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STLD. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,060,007 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 7.0% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,138,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $276,891,000 after buying an additional 140,042 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,768,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,999,000 after buying an additional 22,390 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Steel Dynamics by 6.6% in 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 valued at $194,933,000 after buying an additional 96,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its position in 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 worth $182,604,000 after acquiring an additional 53,532 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on STLD shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.13.

Steel Dynamics Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ:STLD traded down $4.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $122.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,651,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,333,208. The firm has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.07 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $137.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.39. Steel Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $104.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.47 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Steel Dynamics will post 10.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Steel Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 16.65%.

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.