Stonehearth Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Stonehearth Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,287 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. Stonehearth Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in 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 buying an additional 253,802 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Steel Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $216,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 116.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,018,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,434,000 after purchasing an additional 548,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the third quarter valued at approximately $650,000. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of STLD traded up $1.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $119.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 749,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,572,620. The company has a market cap of $18.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.83 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $132.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.80. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.60 and a twelve month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.65%.

Insider Activity at Steel Dynamics

In other news, VP Chad Bickford sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.86, for a total value of $269,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,306,106. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Miguel Alvarez sold 6,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.00, for a total value of $950,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 116,949 shares in the company, valued at $16,723,707. This trade represents a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,591 shares of company stock valued at $3,885,938 over the last three months. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on STLD. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price objective (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Steel Dynamics from $145.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Citigroup reduced their price target on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.13.

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.