Ameriprise Financial Inc. Increases Stock Position in Nucor Corporation $NUE

Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) by 44.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 450,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 139,582 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.20% of Nucor worth $54,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Nucor during the first quarter worth $194,804,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the first quarter valued at about $141,216,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Nucor by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,959,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,484,965,000 after buying an additional 745,671 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Nucor by 17,785.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,867,000 after buying an additional 502,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Nucor by 18.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,309,452 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $277,920,000 after buying an additional 355,364 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nucor Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NUE stock opened at $150.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market cap of $34.55 billion, a PE ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $139.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.81. Nucor Corporation has a 1-year low of $97.59 and a 1-year high of $170.52.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 4.21% and a return on equity of 6.65%. Nucor’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 8,021 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.38, for a total value of $1,150,050.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 82,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,857,956.14. This trade represents a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.00, for a total transaction of $1,051,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 92,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,458,134. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 48,397 shares of company stock worth $6,763,814. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Nucor to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.78.

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.