Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD)

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 2,284 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 107% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,102 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 21,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.81, for a total value of $2,873,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,415 shares in the company, valued at $8,265,376.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 21,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.81, for a total value of $2,873,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,265,376.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gabriel Shaheen 1,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings 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 period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 46.1% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 158.8% in the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $869,000 after purchasing an additional 4,101 shares during the period. Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Steel Dynamics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $295,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 19.8% in the second quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 92,557 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,986,000 after purchasing an additional 15,322 shares in the last quarter. 82.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STLD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Steel Dynamics from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Monday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.86.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

STLD opened at $122.38 on Wednesday. Steel Dynamics has a 1 year low of $95.53 and a 1 year high of $151.34. The stock has a market cap of $19.23 billion, a PE ratio of 8.41 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.73.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.05. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 22.89% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.81 EPS. Steel Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th were paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.64%.

Steel Dynamics Company 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.