Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Stock Holdings Increased by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,289 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $14,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Nucor by 8,530.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576,695 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $456,030,000 after buying an additional 660,866 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 3rd quarter worth $74,829,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 14,525.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 326,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,144,000 after buying an additional 324,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 3rd quarter worth $46,731,000. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on NUE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nucor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $142.57 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $133.42 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 1.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.61.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The business had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.57 earnings per share. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio 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.