Sapient Capital LLC Takes Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,070 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,230,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Nucor by 127,059.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 155,232,061 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $20,461,138,000 after acquiring an additional 155,109,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Nucor by 0.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,438,353 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $841,209,000 after acquiring an additional 23,366 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Nucor by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,247,626 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $559,880,000 after buying an additional 979,824 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Nucor by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $652,851,000 after buying an additional 149,589 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Nucor by 7.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $353,794,000 after buying an additional 159,230 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NUE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Nucor from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $186.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total transaction of $1,901,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 80,902 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,386,751.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 80,902 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total value of $3,772,655.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 120,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,351,936.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of Nucor stock traded down $2.81 on Friday, hitting $194.53. The stock had a trading volume of 1,182,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,393,885. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $129.79 and a twelve month high of $203.00. The business's 50 day moving average is $190.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $46.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 1.61.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.64 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 13.03%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.89 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is currently 12.01%.

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.