Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) Position Lessened by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 34.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,038 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 7,241 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth approximately $398,077,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 17,785.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,789 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $60,867,000 after buying an additional 502,961 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted 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 valued at $280,627,000 after purchasing an additional 474,274 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted 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 worth $59,235,000 after acquiring an additional 426,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,435,265 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $284,220,000 after buying an additional 384,205 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on NUE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut 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 boosted their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $150.00.

Nucor Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NUE traded down $1.70 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $129.73. The company had a trading volume of 2,577,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,231,928. The stock has a market cap of $29.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.01. 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.25 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 6.82%. Nucor's quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total transaction of $4,115,065.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 162,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,590,128.67. This trade represents a 17.36% 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 7,088 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.87, for a total value of $906,342.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 99,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,707,592.73. This represents a 6.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 51,326 shares of company stock worth $6,325,108. Corporate insiders own 0.71% of the company's stock.

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.