Brooklyn Investment Group Decreases Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Brooklyn Investment Group lowered its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 54.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 658 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Nucor were worth $64,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NUE. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Nucor by 8,530.1% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,695 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Nucor by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,648,000 after acquiring an additional 571,682 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor in the third quarter valued at $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Nucor by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,282,000 after acquiring an additional 358,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,499,436. This represents a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of Nucor 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, 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

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NUE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four investment 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. According to MarketBeat, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.63.

Nucor Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:NUE opened at $124.40 on Monday. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.25 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.40. The company has a market cap of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.57 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 8.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.26%.

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.