Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Bought by Zhang Financial LLC

Zhang Financial LLC lifted its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the quarter. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Nucor in the third quarter worth $29,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new position in Nucor in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 45.6% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 60.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,499,436. This trade represents a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 over the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NUE shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup lowered their target price on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.63.

Nucor Trading Up 0.8 %

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

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Nucor’s revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 8.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.26%.

Nucor 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.