Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Receives $183.75 Average Price Target from Analysts

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $173.75.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus raised shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 target price (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at $14,499,436. This represents a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,376 shares in the company, valued at $13,636,254.72. This trade represents a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

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

Nucor Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NUE opened at $116.58 on Thursday. Nucor has a 12 month low of $113.94 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The stock has a market cap of $27.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $145.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The business had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.57 EPS. Nucor’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Nucor 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 paid a $0.55 dividend. 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 1.89%. This is an increase from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is 21.26%.

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.