Sunbelt Securities Inc. Increases Stock Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 2,029.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 129.0% during the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor during the first quarter worth $27,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Nucor by 94.2% in the first quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 208.0% during the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 154 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NUE has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $170.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Nucor from $176.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Argus raised Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.00.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NUE opened at $151.43 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $36.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.08. Nucor Co. has a 52 week low of $133.42 and a 52 week high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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. 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 firm’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.81 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 9.28 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,847,840. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Company 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.