Westpac Banking Corp Trims Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Westpac Banking Corp lowered its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 67.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,437 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 41,775 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Nucor were worth $3,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NUE. Avalon Trust Co bought a new position in Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 15,470.4% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 4,177 shares during the last quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the first quarter worth about $32,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in Nucor by 57.4% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Kalos Management Inc. bought a new stake in Nucor during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NUE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Nucor from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Nucor from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $151.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Nucor from $162.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Nucor in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.56.

Nucor Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NUE traded down $2.69 on Thursday, reaching $153.88. The company had a trading volume of 190,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,558,206. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.83 billion, a PE ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 3.72, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $129.46 and a 52-week high of $182.68. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.64.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $4.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.19 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.37 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 24.38% and a net margin of 13.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 17.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 9th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 28th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Nucor’s payout ratio is 10.34%.

About Nucor

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. The company's 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 products; and bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products.