Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.37 EPS

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) released its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The basic materials company reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.37, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.69 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 10.45%. Nucor’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.81 EPS. Nucor updated its Q3 guidance to below $2.68 EPS.

Nucor Price Performance

Nucor stock traded up $2.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $157.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 159,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,468,981. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 4.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $161.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.79. Nucor has a twelve month low of $140.07 and a twelve month high of $203.00.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 12.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on NUE. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Nucor in a report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Nucor from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $191.29.

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.