Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,213,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 200,901 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Nucor worth $3,292,816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Nucor by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,282,000 after purchasing an additional 358,721 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Nucor in the 4th quarter worth about $38,714,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Nucor by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after buying an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,731,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,906,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $156.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Monday. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $164.78.

Nucor Trading Up 0.1 %

NUE stock opened at $127.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $112.25 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.56.

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 previous year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.