Bridgewater Associates LP Buys 109,158 Shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 119.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 200,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 109,158 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $25,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STLD. Commerce Bank lifted its position in Steel Dynamics by 1.2% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,939 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 23,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,050,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.1% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $583,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on STLD. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Steel Dynamics from $138.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Steel Dynamics from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Steel Dynamics from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 17,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.09, for a total value of $2,387,767.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 146,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,523,371.37. This represents a 10.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.75, for a total value of $277,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,927,763.75. This represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Up 0.1 %

STLD stock opened at $143.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $133.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.57. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.60 and a 12 month high of $155.56.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 10.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.65%.

Steel Dynamics 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.