Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.55

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Nucor has increased its dividend by an average of 8.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Nucor has a payout ratio of 20.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Nucor to earn $10.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.0%.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $121.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.29. Nucor has a 1-year low of $112.25 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The firm has a market cap of $28.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.44.

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.