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

Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $164.44.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on Nucor in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $156.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NUE. Widmann Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Nucor by 4.0% in the third quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Nucor by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Nucor by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Jessup Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in Nucor by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Trading Down 6.1 %

NYSE:NUE opened at $103.14 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. Nucor has a 1-year low of $99.77 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.