Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $194.43.

NUE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Nucor from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Nucor from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Nucor from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $187.00 to $176.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

Nucor Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE NUE opened at $146.24 on Friday. Nucor has a fifty-two week low of $139.41 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.25. The stock has a market cap of $35.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 1.57.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Nucor had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 10.45%. The business had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.81 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Nucor will post 10.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.71%.

Insider Activity at Nucor

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

Institutional Trading of Nucor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NUE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth $377,631,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $456,030,000 after purchasing an additional 660,866 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 1st quarter worth $90,216,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 1st quarter worth $37,395,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 804,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,141,000 after purchasing an additional 153,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.