Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. trimmed its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 5.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 29,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,637 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $4,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CX Institutional raised its holdings in Nucor by 52.8% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 17,245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 94.2% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Nucor by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 262,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,665,000 after purchasing an additional 15,058 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Nucor in the first quarter valued at about $1,847,000. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. raised its stake in Nucor by 86.2% during the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 12,895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,552,000 after buying an additional 5,971 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on NUE. Bank of America decreased their target price on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nucor from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $187.00 to $176.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $194.43.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $1,379,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,847,840. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE opened at $151.91 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $153.42 and its 200-day moving average is $170.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.93, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $36.42 billion, a PE ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 1.57. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $139.41 and a twelve month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.69 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 10.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 9.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.71%.

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.