Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by IronBridge Private Wealth LLC

IronBridge Private Wealth LLC reduced its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,532 shares during the period. Nucor makes up approximately 1.5% of IronBridge Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $4,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 8,530.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,695 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Nucor by 29.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after purchasing an additional 660,866 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the third quarter worth about $74,829,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nucor by 14,525.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 326,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,144,000 after purchasing an additional 324,654 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,731,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus raised Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.50.

Nucor Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NUE stock opened at $156.37 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $150.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $133.42 and a twelve month high of $203.00. The company has a market capitalization of $36.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. The trade was a 5.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

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.