Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Has $2.58 Million Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lowered its position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,276 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $2,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $883,732,000 after buying an additional 74,569 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Nucor by 19.8% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,648,000 after acquiring an additional 571,682 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Nucor by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $341,580,000 after purchasing an additional 67,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,282,000 after acquiring an additional 358,721 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NUE. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.63.

Nucor Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NUE stock opened at $124.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. The company 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.57.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.57 earnings per share. Nucor’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 8.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

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

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.