Brokerages Set Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Target Price at $183.75

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $173.75.

NUE has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price objective (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Nucor Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $117.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.04. 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 has a 52 week low of $113.94 and a 52 week 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 (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.57 EPS. Nucor’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Nucor will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 21.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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 directly owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,636,254.72. This trade represents a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nucor

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NUE. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,576,695 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 660,866 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 3rd quarter valued at $74,829,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $49,144,000 after purchasing an additional 324,654 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.