National Bank of Canada FI Increases Stock Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,489 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,198 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Nucor were worth $10,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Nucor by 3.4% during the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 19,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,009,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $3,481,000. AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in Nucor by 53.2% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 13,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,592 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,230,000. Finally, abrdn plc grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 41.7% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 154,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,932,000 after buying an additional 45,521 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on NUE. UBS Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.14.

Nucor Price Performance

Nucor stock opened at $169.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $40.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.79. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $129.79 and a 12-month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 12.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.45 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 12.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total value of $3,772,655.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,351,936.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total transaction of $3,772,655.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,351,936.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total value of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,651 shares of company stock worth $6,283,648 in the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is owned by 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.