Apollon Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 28.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,859 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth $108,747,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,070,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $360,430,000 after purchasing an additional 237,752 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 worth $353,794,000 after purchasing an additional 159,230 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Nucor by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,851,000 after purchasing an additional 149,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Nucor by 23.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 680,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $106,395,000 after buying an additional 128,536 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.14.

Nucor Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:NUE opened at $169.81 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.79. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $129.79 and a one year high of $203.00. The stock has a market cap of $40.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 4.02.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.62 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The company’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 12.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total value of $609,092.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total transaction of $3,772,655.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 120,738 shares in the company, valued at $23,351,936.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,651 shares of company stock valued at $6,283,648 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.