Allen C. Behr Sells 8,021 Shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) Stock

by · The Markets Daily

Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE – Get Free Report) EVP Allen C. Behr sold 8,021 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.38, for a total transaction of $1,150,050.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 82,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,857,956.14. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $139.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $32.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.74. Nucor Corporation has a twelve month low of $97.59 and a twelve month high of $170.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.94.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 4.21% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Nucor’s payout ratio is 39.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Matrix Trust Co boosted its position in Nucor by 53.8% in the second quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 73.5% in the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 81.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on NUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Nucor from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Nucor from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.13.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on NUE

About Nucor

(Get Free Report)

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.

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