Nucor Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.54 (NYSE:NUE)

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 12th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of 0.54 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th.

Nucor has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 51 years. Nucor has a payout ratio of 19.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Nucor to earn $11.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.4%.

Nucor Price Performance

NUE stock opened at $148.88 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $35.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 1.55. Nucor has a 12-month low of $133.42 and a 12-month high of $203.00. 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 50-day moving average price of $148.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $165.36.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.37. Nucor had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The firm had revenue of $8.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.81 earnings per share. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Nucor will post 9.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on NUE. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $170.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Nucor from $176.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.00.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In related news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $1,379,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,049 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,840. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.