Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Stock Position Boosted by Point72 Hong Kong Ltd

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 362.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,201 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 94,186 shares during the period. Nucor makes up 0.9% of Point72 Hong Kong Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd owned 0.05% of Nucor worth $14,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Nucor by 528.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 426,949 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,327 shares in the last quarter. Covea Finance acquired a new position in Nucor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,836,000. Grace & White Inc. NY lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, OFC Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth $878,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on NUE shares. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group raised shares of Nucor from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $160.33.

Nucor Stock Up 0.3%

NUE traded up $0.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $115.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,832,110 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,113,039. The company has a market cap of $26.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.78, 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 $173.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $117.69 and a 200-day moving average of $128.49. 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 issued its earnings results 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 for 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 for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,590,128.67. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.