Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $4.51 Million Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,146 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,244 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $4,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,595,650 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,989,364,000 after purchasing an additional 510,981 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 9.5% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,207,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $771,198,000 after buying an additional 800,656 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 0.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,745,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $401,574,000 after buying an additional 12,208 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,034,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,486,000 after buying an additional 684,975 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,308,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $225,560,000 after buying an additional 309,009 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $136.90 on Friday. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $90.55 and a one year high of $151.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $136.21 and its 200 day moving average is $121.37. The firm has a market cap of $21.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38 and a beta of 1.42.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The basic materials company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.22 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 29.49% and a net margin of 13.04%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 11.79 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on STLD. Citigroup increased their price target on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Steel Dynamics from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Steel Dynamics from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.29.

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.