Nucor Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.55 (NYSE:NUE)

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.55 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Nucor has increased its dividend by an average of 8.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Nucor has a dividend payout ratio of 20.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Nucor to earn $10.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.0%.

Nucor Price Performance

NYSE NUE opened at $139.85 on Thursday. 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 has a 12-month low of $112.25 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The company has a market capitalization of $32.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $124.79 and its 200-day moving average is $139.99.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NUE shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed 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 raised shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.13.

Nucor Company 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.