Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Holdings Trimmed by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co decreased its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,917 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Nucor were worth $691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NUE. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 8,530.1% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576,695 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Nucor by 19.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,648,000 after buying an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings 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 valued at $205,282,000 after buying an additional 358,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Nucor by 2.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on NUE. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.13.

Nucor Stock Up 2.4 %

NYSE:NUE opened at $131.57 on Tuesday. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $112.25 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.05. The company has a market cap of $30.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. This is a boost from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total transaction of $798,825.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. This represents a 5.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. This represents a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,452,524 over the last ninety days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.