By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 331,711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,714,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.14% of Nucor at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the third quarter valued at $333,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at $239,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 393,328 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,133,000 after acquiring an additional 35,943 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
NUE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price target (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Argus set a $155.00 price target on shares of Nucor in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.33.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Nucor
Nucor Stock Up 1.0 %
NUE stock opened at $131.21 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $112.25 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $129.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $138.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58.
Nucor (NYSE:NUE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.
Nucor Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.16%.
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.
Further Reading
Receive News & Ratings for Nucor Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Nucor and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.