Franklin Resources Inc. Reduces Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 310,483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 54,027 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $36,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Nucor by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,111,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Redwood Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Nucor by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 9,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on NUE. Argus set a $155.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.44.

Nucor Price Performance

NUE opened at $103.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $130.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.36. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $99.77 and a 12-month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.16%.

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.