Planned Solutions Inc. Makes New $306,000 Investment in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 127,059.1% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 155,232,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,461,138,000 after buying an additional 155,109,984 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Nucor by 0.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,438,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $841,209,000 after buying an additional 23,366 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Nucor by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,247,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $559,880,000 after purchasing an additional 979,824 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Nucor by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,851,000 after purchasing an additional 149,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Nucor by 7.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,794,000 after buying an additional 159,230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NUE opened at $198.56 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 1.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.79 and a fifty-two week high of $198.63.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.64 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 13.03% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Nucor from $151.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $186.67.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at $15,386,751.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total value of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.