AIA Group Ltd Purchases 4,592 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 53.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 4,592 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Nucor were worth $2,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC bought a new position in Nucor in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Nucor by 15,470.4% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 4,177 shares in the last quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Nucor in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Nucor by 716.7% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Nucor in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Nucor from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup raised shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.83.

Nucor Stock Down 0.3 %

NUE opened at $190.19 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $191.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.32. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $129.79 and a twelve month high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $45.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 1.61.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.64 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 13.03% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 13.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total value of $3,772,655.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,351,936.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total transaction of $3,772,655.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,351,936.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Profile

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.