Blueshift Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,977 Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE)

Key Points

• Blueshift Asset Management LLC has acquired a new stake in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE), purchasing 1,977 shares valued at approximately $238,000 in the first quarter.
• Analysts have mixed views on Nucor's stock, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and varying price targets, including an increase from Morgan Stanley to $149.00 and a decrease from UBS to $147.00.
• Nucor recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.6%, and will be paid on August 11th to investors of record.

Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,977 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NUE. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 251,364 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,337,000 after buying an additional 1,380 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 14,014 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,636,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Smith Moore & CO. raised its position in Nucor by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 1,845 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,213,000. Finally, Aviva PLC raised its position in Nucor by 164.9% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 143,060 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,697,000 after purchasing an additional 89,059 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NUE has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Nucor from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Nucor from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $157.13.

Nucor Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NUE stock traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $137.50. The company had a trading volume of 68,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,546,176. Nucor Corporation has a 12 month low of $97.59 and a 12 month high of $170.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.85. The company has a market cap of $31.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.74.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.06. Nucor had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 4.21%. The company had revenue of $8.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Nucor's payout ratio is currently 39.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 8,021 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.38, for a total value of $1,150,050.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 82,703 shares in the company, valued at $11,857,956.14. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,088 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.87, for a total value of $906,342.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 99,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,707,592.73. The trade was a 6.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,109 shares of company stock valued at $3,360,094. 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.