Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by Lakeside Advisors INC.

Lakeside Advisors INC. cut its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 694 shares during the quarter. Nucor makes up approximately 5.0% of Lakeside Advisors INC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $7,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Keybank National Association OH lifted its holdings in Nucor by 3.4% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 19,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,009,000 after acquiring an additional 639 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,481,000. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nucor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,230,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 908,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $142,019,000 after buying an additional 22,470 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Nucor from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group assumed coverage on Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.83.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NUE traded down $1.90 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $192.11. 1,142,976 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 929,506. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 3.57. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $129.79 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The company has a market cap of $46.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 1.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $190.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.06.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.33. Nucor had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 13.03%. The firm had revenue of $7.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 13 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 12.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total value of $1,025,035.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total transaction of $1,901,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total value of $1,025,035.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,902,206.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,151 shares of company stock worth $7,308,683 in the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Nucor

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.