D.A. Davidson & CO. Reduces Stock Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 641 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $4,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 129.0% during the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on NUE. Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.57.

Nucor Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:NUE opened at $154.77 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $133.42 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.69.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.57 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 8.5 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 20.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at $29,109,918.96. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.64% 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.