Morgan Stanley Cuts Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Price Target to $154.00

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $166.00 to $154.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 target price (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup dropped 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.13.

Nucor Trading Up 1.9 %

Nucor stock opened at $133.33 on Monday. Nucor has a one year low of $112.25 and a one year high of $203.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $127.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $31.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Nucor will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.16%.

Insider Activity

In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,376 shares in the company, valued at $13,636,254.72. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in Nucor by 8,530.1% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,695 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $519,648,000 after purchasing an additional 571,682 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nucor in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,282,000 after buying an additional 358,721 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Nucor by 2.9% in 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 buying an additional 326,181 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is 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.