Cypress Capital Group Sells 1,480 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Cypress Capital Group lowered its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 25.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,480 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Nucor were worth $499,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Widmann Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in Nucor by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,629 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $696,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Nucor by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Jessup Wealth Management Inc boosted its position in Nucor by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,229,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Nucor by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 9,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:NUE opened at $132.51 on Thursday. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $112.25 and a one year high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.76, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NUE. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 target price (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.13.

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.