Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Invests $194.80 Million in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,618,784 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $194,804,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.70% of Nucor at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,967,254 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $701,255,000 after buying an additional 105,309 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $398,077,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,435,265 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $284,220,000 after acquiring an additional 384,205 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,404,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $280,627,000 after acquiring an additional 474,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Nucor by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,384,590 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $161,595,000 after purchasing an additional 96,375 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,088 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.87, for a total transaction of $906,342.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 99,379 shares in the company, valued at $12,707,592.73. This trade represents a 6.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 162,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,590,128.67. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,326 shares of company stock valued at $6,325,108. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of 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 research note on Monday, June 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $152.75.

Nucor Trading Up 3.2%

NYSE NUE traded up $4.48 on Friday, reaching $145.91. 1,983,006 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,617,937. The business's fifty day moving average price is $127.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Nucor Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $97.59 and a fifty-two week high of $170.52.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $7.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.25 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 6.82% and a net margin of 4.40%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. Analysts forecast that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Nucor's payout ratio is 39.15%.

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.