Janus Henderson Group PLC Purchases 3,963 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,963 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $5,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Nucor by 5.4% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Nucor by 513.9% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 1,521 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its holdings in Nucor by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Nucor by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Nucor by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 46,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,339,000 after acquiring an additional 3,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,109,918.96. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total value of $793,488.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. This represents a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NUE shares. Argus raised shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.50.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE stock opened at $140.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $133.42 and a one year high of $203.00. The firm has a market cap of $33.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.87%.

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.