Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Stake Raised by Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Widmann Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Nucor by 4.0% during the third quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 45.6% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 1.4% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,467 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in Nucor by 1.7% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,629 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in Nucor by 2.4% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 3,696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NUE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.13.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $138.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.25 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The firm has a market cap of $32.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.87.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.16%.

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.