Ameriprise Financial Inc. Decreases Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lowered its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 55.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 310,959 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 384,030 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.13% of Nucor worth $36,310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nucor by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Nucor by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,111,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Nucor by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,157 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in Nucor by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,528 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,229,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Nucor by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 417 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NUE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 target price on Nucor in a report on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Argus set a $155.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $160.33.

Nucor Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Nucor stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $115.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,832,110 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,106,001. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $97.59 and a one year high of $176.59. The company has a market capitalization of $26.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.73. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $117.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.81.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The company had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total transaction of $4,115,065.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,590,128.67. This trade represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Nucor 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.