Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Lifted to “Overweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nucor (NYSE:NUE) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $174.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $170.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Nucor in a report on Monday, May 20th. They set a hold rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised Nucor from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $187.00 to $176.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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 report on Monday, June 17th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Nucor to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $195.00.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NUE opened at $137.77 on Monday. Nucor has a one year low of $133.42 and a one year high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The company has a market cap of $33.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.29.

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, beating 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 company had revenue of $8.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.81 EPS. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Nucor will post 9.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Nucor

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth $377,631,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 29.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after buying an additional 660,866 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nucor during the first quarter valued at about $90,216,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the first quarter worth about $37,395,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised 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 acquiring an additional 153,077 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

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.