Centiva Capital LP Raises Stock Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Centiva Capital LP boosted its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 306.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,796 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 10,403 shares during the quarter. Centiva Capital LP's holdings in Nucor were worth $1,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 528.6% in the fourth 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 during the period. InvesTrust purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,388,000. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 38.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Covea Finance bought a new position in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,836,000. Finally, Grace & White Inc. NY increased its holdings in Nucor by 12.0% during 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 period. 76.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus set a $155.00 target price on Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group raised shares of Nucor from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $156.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $160.33.

Nucor Stock Performance

Nucor stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $115.30. 1,715,212 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,096,431. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $119.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $129.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.73. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $97.59 and a 1 year high of $176.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.25 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. The firm's revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nucor Co. 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, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Nucor's payout ratio is 39.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.