Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Boosts Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 44.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 243,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 74,677 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can owned approximately 0.10% of Nucor worth $40,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NUE. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Nucor by 15,470.4% during the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 4,177 shares during the last quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Nucor in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Kalos Management Inc. purchased a new position in Nucor in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. bought a new position in shares of Nucor during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 77.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Nucor from $162.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Nucor in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Nucor from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $151.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.56.

Nucor Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NUE opened at $157.05 on Tuesday. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $129.46 and a twelve month high of $182.68. The stock has a market cap of $38.61 billion, a PE ratio of 7.96 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $152.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.95.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $4.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.19 by $0.38. Nucor had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 24.38%. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.50 EPS. Nucor’s revenue was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 17.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 9th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 28th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is 10.34%.

Nucor Profile

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. The company's 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 products; and bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products.