Insider Selling: Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) EVP Sells $1,321,200.00 in Stock

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,499,436. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Nucor Stock Up 1.2 %

NUE stock opened at $143.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50-day moving average of $147.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $156.80. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $133.42 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.57 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 8.65 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Nucor’s payout ratio is 20.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NUE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Nucor by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,909,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $617,915,000 after purchasing an additional 84,558 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 29.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after buying an additional 660,866 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Nucor by 3.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $341,580,000 after buying an additional 67,974 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Nucor by 6.5% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,165,094 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $230,572,000 after acquiring an additional 70,917 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Nucor by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,069,920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,433,000 after acquiring an additional 111,177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. Argus raised Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on 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 objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.57.

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.