Brokerages Set Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Target Price at $165.63

Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $163.63.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price objective (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company.

Nucor Stock Performance

NYSE:NUE opened at $124.40 on Monday. Nucor has a 52-week low of $112.25 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.57 EPS. Analysts forecast that Nucor will post 8.19 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is 21.26%.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other Nucor news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total transaction of $798,825.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,132 shares in the company, valued at $13,923,837.96. This trade represents a 5.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total value of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,636,254.72. This represents a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nucor

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Nucor by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,724,117,000 after purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.2% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 652,502 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $98,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,258 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Nucor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $565,000. BIP Wealth LLC bought a new position in Nucor in the third quarter worth approximately $681,000. Finally, Ascension Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor during the second quarter worth $885,000. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.