Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Receives Average Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the nine research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $157.22.

NUE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus set a $155.00 price target on shares of Nucor in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Nucor from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th.

Insider Activity

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of Nucor 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 now owns 162,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,590,128.67. The trade was a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nucor

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its position in Nucor by 528.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 426,949 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in Nucor by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 8,455 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $987,000 after purchasing an additional 2,327 shares during the period. Grace & White Inc. NY raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 122,339 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $14,278,000 after buying an additional 13,100 shares during the last quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $842,000. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $3,100,000. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nucor Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:NUE traded up $1.32 during trading on Thursday, hitting $118.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,132,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,200,117. Nucor has a fifty-two week low of $97.59 and a fifty-two week high of $170.52. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. The company has a market capitalization of $27.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.68.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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). Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The company had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. Nucor's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Nucor will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Nucor's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.15%.

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.