Cetera Trust Company N.A Invests $85,000 in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NUE. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nucor during the 4th quarter worth $108,747,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Nucor by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,070,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $360,430,000 after purchasing an additional 237,752 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Nucor by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,794,000 after purchasing an additional 159,230 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Nucor by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,851,000 after purchasing an additional 149,589 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Nucor by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 680,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $106,395,000 after purchasing an additional 128,536 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE opened at $191.74 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.06. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $46.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 1.61. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $129.79 and a 52-week high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.60 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 13.03% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.45 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total value of $1,025,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total transaction of $1,025,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,151 shares of company stock worth $7,308,683 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NUE. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Nucor from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.83.

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.