Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Insider Sells $1,028,566.44 in Stock

Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) insider Michael Keller sold 4,554 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.86, for a total value of $1,028,566.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,802,127.24. This trade represents a 21.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE traded up $2.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $234.30. The company had a trading volume of 753,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,146. The company has a market capitalization of $53.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.87. Nucor Corporation has a 1 year low of $106.21 and a 1 year high of $235.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $181.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.89.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The basic materials company reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $9.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.88 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 6.82%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Corporation will post 13.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, February 20th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to purchase up to 9.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Nucor’s payout ratio is 22.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at about $115,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 533,566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $92,691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at about $396,000. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Nucor News

Here are the key news stories impacting Nucor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q1 results and revenue beat underpin upside expectations — Nucor reported $3.23 EPS vs. $2.82 expected and ~21% YoY revenue growth, supporting the recent rally and higher analyst targets.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher price targets — BNP Paribas Exane raised its target to $248 and maintained an “outperform” rating, adding to other recent upward revisions that lift consensus valuation. BNP Paribas raises price target
• Positive Sentiment: Share repurchase and dividend — the board authorized a $4.0B buyback (up to ~9.7% of shares) and Nucor pays a quarterly dividend (annualized $2.24), both shareholder?friendly moves that support the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional ownership and solid balance sheet — roughly 76% institutional ownership, low leverage (D/E ~0.30) and healthy liquidity ratios make headline-driven volatility less likely to become a sustained trend.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sale — EVP David Sumoski sold 33,068 shares (~$7.46M at ~$225.67), trimming his position by ~12%, which can be perceived negatively by the market. Form 4 — Sumoski
• Negative Sentiment: Additional executive selling — EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 12,888 shares (~$2.91M) and EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,096 shares (~$2.28M), further reducing insider holdings and potentially signaling tax? or liquidity?driven exits. Form 4 — Needham Form 4 — Behr
• Negative Sentiment: Smaller executive sales — EVP Noah Hanners and director Michael Keller sold 6,472 and 4,554 shares respectively; multiple contemporaneous sales increase attention on insider activity. Form 4 — Hanners Form 4 — Keller

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on NUE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Nucor from $240.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Nucor from $190.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Nucor from $213.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group cut Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $224.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Nucor from $210.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.80.

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.