Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Hits New 52-Week High at $203.00

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $203.00 and last traded at $201.27, with a volume of 70436 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $200.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NUE shares. 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 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.67.

Nucor Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $47.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.84.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.64 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 13.03% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.89 EPS. Analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 12.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total value of $609,092.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares in the company, valued at $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total transaction of $1,901,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at $15,386,751.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,151 shares of company stock worth $7,308,683 over the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 127,059.1% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 155,232,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,461,138,000 after acquiring an additional 155,109,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,438,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $841,209,000 after buying an additional 23,366 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,247,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $559,880,000 after buying an additional 979,824 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,851,000 after buying an additional 149,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,794,000 after buying an additional 159,230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Company 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.