Nucor Corporation $NUE Shares Acquired by Ethic Inc.

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Nucor Corporation by 36% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 3,687 shares, bringing its total holdings to 13,929 shares valued at approximately $1.67 million.
• Insider sales have occurred with EVP Allen C. Behr selling 8,021 shares and Kenneth Rex Query selling 10,000 shares, resulting in an 8.84% and 9.61% decrease in their respective stock ownerships.
• Nucor reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, beating analyst estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, indicating a 1.5% dividend yield.

Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 36.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,929 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,687 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NUE. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 31,595 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,853,000 after buying an additional 4,763 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 528.6% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 507,715 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $59,235,000 after buying an additional 426,949 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 101,459 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $12,210,000 after buying an additional 17,861 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 28,886 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,476,000 after buying an additional 4,914 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 305,006 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,704,000 after buying an additional 33,700 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NUE shares. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Nucor from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Nucor to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Nucor from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $155.78.

Nucor Stock Up 3.2%

Nucor stock traded up $4.5160 during trading on Friday, reaching $147.7660. 1,407,529 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,620,562. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company's 50-day moving average is $138.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.38. The firm has a market cap of $33.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.74. Nucor Corporation has a 52-week low of $97.59 and a 52-week high of $170.52.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $8.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 prior year, the company posted $2.68 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 8,021 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were 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 $11,857,956.14. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.00, for a total transaction of $1,051,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 92,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,458,134. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,309 shares of company stock valued at $5,860,294 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.71% of the company's stock.

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.