Nucor Corporation $NUE Shares Acquired by United Asset Strategies Inc.

United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its position in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) by 26.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,554 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NUE. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Nucor by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,594,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 50.2% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 13,039 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after purchasing an additional 4,358 shares during the period. Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at $216,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 128.1% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 528.6% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 507,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,235,000 after purchasing an additional 426,949 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NUE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Nucor to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $155.78.

Nucor Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:NUE opened at $143.3240 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.83. Nucor Corporation has a 1-year low of $97.59 and a 1-year high of $170.52. The company’s fifty day moving average is $137.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.74.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.06. Nucor had a net margin of 4.21% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The business had revenue of $8.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.90, for a total value of $1,449,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 84,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,183,192. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.00, for a total transaction of $1,051,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 92,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,458,134. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,309 shares of company stock valued at $5,860,294 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Nucor 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.