M&T Bank Corp Increases Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,977 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Nucor were worth $12,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NUE. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 326,181 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 1.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 74,569 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 worth $617,915,000 after acquiring an additional 84,558 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 19.8% in 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 period. 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 purchasing an additional 67,974 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on NUE shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.75.

Nucor Trading Up 0.7 %

Nucor stock opened at $116.58 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $113.94 and a 12-month 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.37 billion, a PE ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.76.

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

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. Nucor’s payout ratio is 21.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 in the last quarter. 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.