Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Holdings Lifted by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 42,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,230 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $7,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in Nucor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,481,000. AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in Nucor by 53.2% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 13,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,592 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in Nucor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,230,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Nucor by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NUE shares. Citigroup raised shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Nucor from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.83.

Nucor Trading Down 8.9 %

NYSE NUE opened at $174.64 on Wednesday. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $129.79 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $191.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.18. The stock has a market cap of $41.91 billion, a PE ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). Nucor had a return on equity of 19.67% and a net margin of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In related news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total value of $609,092.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Nucor news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total value of $3,772,655.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,351,936.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares in the company, valued at $4,817,153.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,151 shares of company stock worth $7,308,683 over the last quarter. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.