Atria Investments Inc Cuts Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Atria Investments Inc lowered its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 12.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,377 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.2% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 652,502 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $98,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,258 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its stake in Nucor by 52.8% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 17,245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. grew its stake in Nucor by 86.2% during the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 12,895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,552,000 after acquiring an additional 5,971 shares in the last quarter. Ascension Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor during the 2nd quarter valued at about $885,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,655,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. This trade represents a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,499,436. This trade represents a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $147.08 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $133.42 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. The company has a market capitalization of $34.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s fifty day moving average is $148.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.16.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results 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. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Nucor Profile

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.