BMO Capital Markets Upgrades Nucor (NYSE:NUE) to Outperform

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Nucor (NYSE:NUE) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $145.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $140.00.

NUE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $157.22.

Nucor Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NUE opened at $122.00 on Monday. Nucor has a 52 week low of $97.59 and a 52 week high of $170.52. The firm has a market cap of $28.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.25 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total transaction of $4,115,065.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,993 shares in the company, valued at $19,590,128.67. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Nucor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $398,077,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $194,804,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $141,216,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Nucor by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,959,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,484,965,000 after acquiring an additional 745,671 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Nucor by 17,785.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,867,000 after acquiring an additional 502,961 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.