Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $190.57.

NUE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut 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 report on Wednesday, September 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total transaction of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,499,436. This represents a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 over the last ninety days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nucor

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 129.0% during the second quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nucor during the third quarter worth $26,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Nucor during the third quarter worth $29,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Nucor during the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 45.6% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE opened at $154.77 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 has a market cap of $36.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50-day moving average of $150.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.69. Nucor has a 12-month low of $133.42 and a 12-month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.57 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Nucor will post 8.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors 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 1.40%. Nucor’s payout ratio is 20.87%.

Nucor Company 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.