Prospera Financial Services Inc Sells 401 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Prospera Financial Services Inc reduced its position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 8.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 401 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Nucor were worth $671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Nucor by 35.7% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA lifted its position in Nucor by 6.1% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 14,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,925,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its position in Nucor by 8.3% in the first quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $784,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Nucor in the first quarter worth $14,842,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Nucor by 23.5% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 804,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,141,000 after buying an additional 153,077 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total transaction of $798,825.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. The trade was a 5.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on NUE shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.57.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $151.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $149.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.07. The firm has a market cap of $35.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 1.55. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $133.42 and a 12 month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.57 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.87%.

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.