6,955 Shares in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Bought by Essential Planning LLC.

Essential Planning LLC. bought a new position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,955 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $812,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 60.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on NUE. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $164.33.

Nucor Stock Performance

NYSE:NUE opened at $129.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $129.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.69. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $112.25 and a twelve month high of $203.00. The company has a market capitalization of $29.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.16%.

Nucor 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.