Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. cut its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 696 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Nucor by 8,530.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,819,000 after buying an additional 1,576,695 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nucor in the third quarter valued at approximately $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Nucor by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,282,000 after purchasing an additional 358,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NUE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 target price (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report 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 research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four 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 an average target price of $163.63.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,636,254.72. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,452,524 in the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nucor Stock Performance

NYSE:NUE opened at $121.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market cap of $28.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 1.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $130.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.34. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $112.25 and a 1-year high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 8.18 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 21.26%.

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.