Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Nucor Corporation $NUE

Key Points

• Ceredex Value Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Nucor Corporation by 42.2% during the first quarter, owning about $40.36 million worth of shares after selling 245,036 shares.
• Nucor recently reported $2.60 earnings per share, beating estimates, and had a revenue of $8.46 billion for the quarter, showing a 4.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.5%, with a payout ratio of 39.71%.

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 42.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 335,387 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 245,036 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned 0.15% of Nucor worth $40,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Nucor by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,512 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 2.2% during the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,247 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its position in Nucor by 2.5% in the first quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 4,117 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Nucor by 6.1% during the first quarter. Horizon Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,962 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on NUE. Wall Street Zen lowered Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Nucor from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $155.78.

Nucor Stock Down 0.3%

Nucor stock traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $149.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,082,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,329,783. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $140.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.90. Nucor Corporation has a one year low of $97.59 and a one year 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 company has a market capitalization of $34.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.74.

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

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.90, for a total value of $1,449,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 84,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,183,192. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 8,021 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 82,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,857,956.14. This trade represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 48,397 shares of company stock valued at $6,763,814. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.