Nucor Corporation $NUE Stake Lessened by Liontrust Investment Partners LLP

Key Points

• Liontrust Investment Partners LLP reduced its stake in Nucor Corporation by 57.7%, now holding 21,201 shares valued at approximately $2.55 million.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their holdings, with Vanguard Group growing its stake by 2.6% to own nearly 29 million shares valued at $3.48 billion.
• Nucor reported $2.60 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share.

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP reduced its holdings in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 57.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,201 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 28,881 shares during the quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's holdings in Nucor were worth $2,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Canal Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Nucor by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Nucor by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,512 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC increased its holdings in Nucor by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Nucor by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 4,117 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Nucor by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,962 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Nucor from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $155.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 8,021 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.38, for a total transaction of $1,150,050.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 82,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,857,956.14. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.37, for a total transaction of $1,303,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 94,080 shares in the company, valued at $12,265,209.60. This represents a 9.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,109 shares of company stock valued at $3,360,094 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.71% of the company's stock.

Nucor Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NUE traded up $1.26 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $145.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,382,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,472,049. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $136.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Nucor Corporation has a 1-year low of $97.59 and a 1-year high of $170.52. The stock has a market cap of $33.49 billion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.74.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $8.46 billion for 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%. Nucor's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.55 per share. 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 payout ratio is 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.