State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Acquires 27,817 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 10.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 303,716 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 27,817 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Nucor were worth $60,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Nucor by 3.8% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Great Diamond Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 143.6% during the first quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 12,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,425,000 after purchasing an additional 7,224 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 4.4% during the first quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 2,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Nucor by 1.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 250,990 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,676,000 after acquiring an additional 2,855 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Nucor by 6.2% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 125,078 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,753,000 after acquiring an additional 7,312 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NUE. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com lowered Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Nucor from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $191.29.

Nucor Trading Up 1.2 %

Nucor stock traded up $2.02 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $166.02. 728,558 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,459,662. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.22. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $140.07 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The firm has a market cap of $39.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). Nucor had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The firm had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 10.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, June 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 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.71%.

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.