Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Nucor (NYSE:NUE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on NUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Nucor from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a buy rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $193.14.

Nucor Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:NUE opened at $175.36 on Tuesday. Nucor has a 12-month low of $129.79 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The company has a market capitalization of $42.08 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 1.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $190.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.32. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Nucor will post 12.93 EPS 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 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 12.71%.

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 company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 80,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total value of $1,025,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 3,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 7,191 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 54.1% during the 1st quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

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.