Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Shares Purchased by First Merchants Corp

First Merchants Corp increased its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in shares of Steel Dynamics by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 0.9% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Steel Dynamics by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 10.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Steel Dynamics by 2.1% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $135.83 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.60 and a 52 week high of $155.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $123.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 1.35.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.33). Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Steel Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.22.

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.