Paragon Capital Management Ltd Reduces Position in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD)

Paragon Capital Management Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 367 shares during the period. Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 569.7% in the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 82.0% in the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new position in Steel Dynamics in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its position in Steel Dynamics by 1,953.8% in the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. 81.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on STLD. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $120.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Monday, June 19th. BNP Paribas downgraded Steel Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 5th. StockNews.com began coverage on Steel Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.38.

Steel Dynamics Price Performance

STLD traded down $3.82 on Friday, hitting $98.71. 4,207,186 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,032,049. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.22. The firm has a market cap of $16.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.51. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $69.12 and a one year high of $136.46. The company has a current ratio of 4.20, a quick ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The basic materials company reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.82 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. Steel Dynamics had a net margin of 14.66% and a return on equity of 40.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.73 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 15.65 EPS for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Steel Dynamics

In other Steel Dynamics news, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 48,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total transaction of $5,041,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 61,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,443,905.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Gabriel Shaheen sold 1,717 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.80, for a total value of $181,658.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 83,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,789,229.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Christopher A. Graham sold 48,000 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total value of $5,041,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 61,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,443,905.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Steel Dynamics Profile

Steel Dynamics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer and metal recycler in the United States. It operates through three segments: Steel Operations, Metals Recycling Operations, and Steel Fabrication Operations. 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 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.