Nucor Corporation $NUE Shares Sold by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Nucor Corporation by 20.6%, now owning 16,193 shares valued at approximately $1.95 million.
• Nucor Corporation reported $2.60 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue slightly below forecasts at $8.46 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, translating to an annual yield of 1.5% and a payout ratio of 39.71%.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 20.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,193 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,191 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Nucor were worth $1,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Nucor by 17.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 31,595 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,853,000 after purchasing an additional 4,763 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in 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 worth $12,210,000 after purchasing an additional 17,861 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in 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 worth $3,476,000 after purchasing an additional 4,914 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Nucor by 12.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 33,700 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Nucor by 48.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares during the period. 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 recently commented on NUE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Nucor from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Nucor from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $155.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,200 shares of Nucor 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 92,179 shares in the company, valued at $13,458,134. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.90, for a total transaction of $1,449,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 84,080 shares in the company, valued at $12,183,192. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,397 shares of company stock valued at $6,763,814 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.71% of the company's stock.

Nucor Trading Down 0.5%

Nucor stock traded down $0.79 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $144.42. 608,977 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,381,571. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.76. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $141.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.20. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.06. Nucor had a net margin of 4.21% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The business had revenue of $8.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is currently 39.71%.

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.