Greystone Financial Group LLC Takes $637,000 Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Greystone Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,292 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $637,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 11.5% in the first quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,868 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Nucor by 1.7% in the first quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 49,946 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,011,000 after purchasing an additional 837 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 5.8% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,501 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC bought a new stake in Nucor in the first quarter worth $667,000. Finally, Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. lifted its stake in Nucor by 7.6% in the first quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. now owns 3,287 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total transaction of $4,115,065.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on NUE. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price target on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Argus set a $155.00 price target on shares of Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Nucor from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $157.22.

Nucor Trading Down 6.0%

Shares of NYSE NUE traded down $7.51 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $117.17. 3,615,769 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,200,386. Nucor Co. 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 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $114.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.26. The firm has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.68.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $7.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. Nucor's quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Nucor's dividend payout ratio 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.