Ellsworth Advisors LLC Purchases 198 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $2,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,909,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $617,915,000 after buying an additional 84,558 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 29.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $456,030,000 after purchasing an additional 660,866 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 3.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $341,580,000 after acquiring an additional 67,974 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Nucor by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,165,094 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $230,572,000 after purchasing an additional 70,917 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,069,920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,433,000 after purchasing an additional 111,177 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In related news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $1,379,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,847,840. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NUE. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $176.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Nucor from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Argus raised Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.43.

Nucor Price Performance

NYSE:NUE opened at $158.10 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $133.42 and a one year high of $203.00. The stock has a market cap of $37.91 billion, a PE ratio of 9.30 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $147.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.04.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.37. Nucor had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 10.45%. The business had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 9.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.71%.

Nucor Company Profile

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. It operates in three segments: steel mills, steel products, and raw materials. The Steel Mills segment produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet steel products; plate steel products; wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and H-piling and sheet piling structural steel products; bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products; and engages in the steel trading and rebar distribution businesses.