Deutsche Bank AG Grows Stake in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE)

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Nucor Corporation by 23.1%, owning over 1 million shares valued at approximately $128 million.
• Nucor's latest quarterly earnings surpassed analysts’ expectations, with an EPS of $2.60 and revenues of $8.46 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.6% with a payout ratio of 39.71%.

Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 23.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,063,321 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 199,412 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.46% of Nucor worth $127,960,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Nucor by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,772,831 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $213,342,000 after purchasing an additional 92,363 shares during the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in Nucor during the 1st quarter valued at $5,768,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Nucor by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,959,327 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,484,965,000 after purchasing an additional 745,671 shares during the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA boosted its stake in Nucor by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 14,241 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in shares of Nucor during the 1st quarter valued at $3,102,000. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on NUE shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Nucor from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $155.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 8,021 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.38, for a total transaction of $1,150,050.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 82,703 shares in the company, valued at $11,857,956.14. This trade represents a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.37, for a total value of $1,303,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 94,080 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,265,209.60. The trade was a 9.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,109 shares of company stock worth $3,360,094. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Nucor Price Performance

NUE stock traded down $3.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $142.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 358,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,484,599. Nucor Corporation has a 1 year low of $97.59 and a 1 year high of $170.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $32.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.74. The company's fifty day moving average is $134.78 and its 200-day moving average is $126.63.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $8.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. Nucor's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.71%.

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.