Bailard Inc. Buys New Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 19,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,009,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,481,000. AIA Group Ltd lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 53.2% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 13,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,592 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at $1,230,000. Finally, abrdn plc grew its holdings in Nucor by 41.7% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 154,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,932,000 after purchasing an additional 45,521 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on NUE shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of 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 report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group began coverage on Nucor in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.14.

Nucor Stock Performance

Nucor stock opened at $175.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 4.02 and a quick ratio of 2.48. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $129.79 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $190.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.78. The company has a market cap of $42.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 1.61.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 12.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.45 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nucor news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total transaction of $3,772,655.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,351,936.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Nucor news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total value of $3,772,655.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 120,738 shares in the company, valued at $23,351,936.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at $15,386,751.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 over the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.