Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) Receives $177.27 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $179.3636.

NUE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on Nucor from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Nucor from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Nucor from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP John J. Hollatz sold 7,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total value of $1,049,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,470,914. The trade was a 6.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas J. Batterbee sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.28, for a total transaction of $330,560.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 17,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,967,106.56. This represents a 10.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,950 shares of company stock valued at $2,319,166. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its stake in Nucor by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 2,462 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 2,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in Nucor by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Nucor by 51.4% in the second quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE stock opened at $179.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $165.93 and a 200-day moving average of $150.37. Nucor has a one year low of $97.59 and a one year high of $183.32. The stock has a market cap of $41.12 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.94 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $7.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 5.37%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a $0.56 dividend. This is a boost from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 29.71%.

About Nucor

Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) is an American steel producer headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company is primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of steel and steel products, operating a network of steel mills, recycling facilities and fabrication plants across the United States and North America. Nucor’s operations emphasize electric arc furnace steelmaking using recycled scrap metal, which supports a decentralized, mill-based production model focused on efficiency and flexibility.

Product offerings span a broad range of basic and value?added steel items, including sheet, plate, merchant bar, structural beams, reinforcing bar, tubing, fasteners and fabricated components.