Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Acquired by Choate Investment Advisors

Choate Investment Advisors lifted its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,451 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Nucor were worth $753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Nucor by 60.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on NUE. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price objective (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.33.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NUE opened at $132.26 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $30.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.42. Nucor Co. has a 52 week low of $112.25 and a 52 week high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.