Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 128,718 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 85.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,743 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 128,718 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Nucor were worth $3,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NUE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Nucor in the 4th quarter worth about $377,631,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Nucor in the 4th quarter worth about $108,747,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Nucor by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,070,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $360,430,000 after buying an additional 237,752 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Nucor by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,851,000 after buying an additional 149,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Nucor by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 660,514 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,956,000 after buying an additional 93,471 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nucor Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE NUE opened at $155.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $37.31 billion, a PE ratio of 9.15 and a beta of 1.60. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $140.07 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $172.60 and its 200 day moving average is $178.37. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.62 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 12.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.45 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 11.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.71%.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 120,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,351,936.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NUE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Nucor from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Nucor from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $188.38.

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.