Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 13,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,407,000. Nucor accounts for approximately 2.5% of Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Keybank National Association OH increased its position in shares of Nucor by 3.4% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 19,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,009,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,481,000. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,230,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Nucor by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Nucor by 2.5% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 908,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $142,019,000 after buying an additional 22,470 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on NUE shares. UBS Group started coverage on Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Nucor from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total value of $3,772,655.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,351,936.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Nucor Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Nucor stock traded down $1.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $189.72. The company had a trading volume of 375,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,362,167. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $191.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market cap of $45.53 billion, a PE ratio of 10.62 and a beta of 1.61. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.79 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $7.64 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 13.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 13.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.01%.

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.