Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Lifted to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nucor (NYSE:NUE) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $176.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $187.00.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of 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 lowered shares of Nucor from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $194.43.

Nucor Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NUE opened at $145.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.93, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Nucor has a 12-month low of $139.41 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $155.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.54 and a beta of 1.57.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.69 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.69%. Nucor’s revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.81 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor will post 10.57 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 12.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $1,379,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 99,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,847,840. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nucor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth approximately $625,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Nucor by 227.9% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 8,312 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,447,000 after acquiring an additional 5,777 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Nucor by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 3,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth approximately $384,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Nucor by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 45,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,838,000 after acquiring an additional 2,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Company 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.