WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Has $7.01 Million Stock Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,018 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,837 shares during the quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $7,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Nucor during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new position in Nucor during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in shares of Nucor by 45.6% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NUE. Citigroup cut their price target on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.13.

Nucor Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NUE opened at $137.75 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a 52 week low of $112.25 and a 52 week high of $203.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $124.99 and a 200-day moving average of $140.62.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.16%.

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.