Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Releases Q2 Earnings Guidance

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of below $3.46 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NUE. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group began coverage on Nucor in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a buy rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Nucor from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Nucor from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $192.83.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $191.74 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $191.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.06. The company has a market cap of $46.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Nucor has a twelve month low of $129.79 and a twelve month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.60 by ($0.14). Nucor had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 13.03%. The business had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Nucor will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.01%.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In related news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total transaction of $1,901,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,386,751.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,386,751.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.