Nordea Investment Management AB Buys 358,721 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 25.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 358,721 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.75% of Nucor worth $205,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Nucor by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $883,732,000 after buying an additional 74,569 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,909,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $617,915,000 after buying an additional 84,558 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $519,648,000 after buying an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $341,580,000 after acquiring an additional 67,974 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NUE. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.63.

Nucor Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of NUE stock opened at $120.58 on Tuesday. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $112.25 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $139.23 and its 200 day moving average is $146.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. The company has a market capitalization of $28.31 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 8.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total transaction of $798,825.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. This represents a 5.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.