Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Purchases 11,453 Shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 42.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,613 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,453 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Nucor were worth $4,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Nucor by 73.5% during the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NUE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised Nucor from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $155.56.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE traded up $2.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $128.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,036,388 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,229,764. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.52. The company's 50-day moving average is $116.62 and its 200-day moving average is $122.27. Nucor Corporation has a 52 week low of $97.59 and a 52 week high of $170.52. The firm has a market cap of $29.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.67.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $7.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is currently 39.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,993 shares in the company, valued at $19,590,128.67. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.71% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.