Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Nucor Corporation has received an average rating of "Buy" from eight research firms, with a 1-year price objective of $157.13.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, reflecting a 1.5% dividend yield.
• Nucor's latest quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $2.60, surpassing analysts' expectations by $0.06.

Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Buy" by the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $157.13.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nucor news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,088 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.87, for a total transaction of $906,342.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 99,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,707,592.73. The trade was a 6.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.37, for a total value of $1,303,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 94,080 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,265,209.60. This represents a 9.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NUE. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $194,804,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $141,216,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,959,327 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,484,965,000 after buying an additional 745,671 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 17,785.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,789 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $60,867,000 after buying an additional 502,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Nucor by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,404,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $280,627,000 after purchasing an additional 474,274 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Nucor Trading Down 3.1%

NUE traded down $4.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $138.67. 1,721,015 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,793,802. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.74. Nucor has a 1-year low of $97.59 and a 1-year high of $170.52. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $130.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.47 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 4.21%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nucor will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Nucor's payout ratio is currently 39.71%.

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.