Vest Financial LLC Has $75.40 Million Stock Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 28.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 501,537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 110,641 shares during the quarter. Nucor makes up 1.4% of Vest Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $75,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Nucor by 29.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $456,030,000 after acquiring an additional 660,866 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $90,216,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,395,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Nucor by 23.5% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 804,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $159,141,000 after buying an additional 153,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trinity Street Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the second quarter worth $19,213,000. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Nucor from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America cut their price target on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Nucor from $176.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nucor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.43.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $1,379,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,847,840. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Nucor Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE NUE traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $158.24. The company had a trading volume of 1,954,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,535,030. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $133.42 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $37.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $147.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $160.49.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.37. Nucor had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 10.45%. The business had revenue of $8.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.71%.

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.