Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lowered its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,626 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 19,604 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc's holdings in Nucor were worth $9,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nucor by 2.5% during the 4th 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 period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nucor by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,111,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Nucor by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,157 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Jessup Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in Nucor by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,528 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nucor by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 417 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total value 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. The trade was a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NUE has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $160.33.

Nucor Price Performance

NUE traded up $0.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $115.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,832,110 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,106,002. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $97.59 and a twelve month high of $176.59. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $117.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.73.

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

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. 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%.

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.