Meyer Handelman Co. Decreases Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Meyer Handelman Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 430 shares during the quarter. Meyer Handelman Co.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $9,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its position in shares of Nucor by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 41,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,987,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its position in shares of Nucor by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 2,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Nucor by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Nucor by 800.0% during the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Nucor by 17,785.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NUE stock opened at $109.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $25.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.76. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $97.59 and a one year high of $170.52.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.25 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. Nucor’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total value of $4,115,065.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,993 shares in the company, valued at $19,590,128.67. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.