Central Bank & Trust Co. Decreases Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Central Bank & Trust Co. lowered its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 38,566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,921 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $5,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $456,030,000 after acquiring an additional 660,866 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Nucor in the third quarter worth $74,829,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Nucor by 14,525.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 326,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,144,000 after acquiring an additional 324,654 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Nucor during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,395,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 23.5% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 804,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $159,141,000 after acquiring an additional 153,077 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NUE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at $14,499,436. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $142.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $33.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 1.55. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $133.42 and a one year high of $203.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $147.40 and a 200 day moving average of $156.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.57 earnings per share. Nucor’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 8.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.87%.

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.