Wedmont Private Capital Has $304,000 Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,737 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Nucor were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Nucor by 528.6% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 507,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,235,000 after purchasing an additional 426,949 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Nucor by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 8,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 2,327 shares in the last quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY raised its stake in Nucor by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 122,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,278,000 after buying an additional 13,100 shares during the period. Howard Bailey Securities LLC bought a new position in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $842,000. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP bought a new position in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $3,100,000. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total value of $4,115,065.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,993 shares in the company, valued at $19,590,128.67. This trade represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on NUE. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised Nucor from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Argus set a $155.00 price target on shares of Nucor in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.22.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE opened at $117.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.68. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $97.59 and a 12 month high of $170.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $7.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.25 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is 39.15%.

Nucor Profile

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.