Short Interest in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Drops By 18.6%

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,010,000 shares, a decline of 18.6% from the January 15th total of 3,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Steel Dynamics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Steel Dynamics by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,725,000. Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its stake in Steel Dynamics by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 9,465.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 18,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 18,647 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,384,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,487,000 after purchasing an additional 253,802 shares during the period. 82.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Steel Dynamics Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Steel Dynamics stock opened at $135.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 1.35. Steel Dynamics has a 52-week low of $104.60 and a 52-week high of $155.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 2.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $123.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.46.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 in the prior year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Steel Dynamics will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $149.00 target price (up from $145.00) on shares of Steel Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Steel Dynamics from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised Steel Dynamics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Steel Dynamics from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Steel Dynamics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.