Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV Purchases 1,708 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,708 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Nucor were worth $3,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Nucor by 8,530.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,695 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position 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. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the third quarter valued at approximately $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Nucor by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,282,000 after buying an additional 358,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Nucor by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after acquiring an additional 326,181 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $118.09 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $137.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 1.60. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.25 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.57 EPS. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,636,254.72. This represents a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NUE shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.63.

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.