Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $164.44.

Several research firms have recently commented on NUE. UBS Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $156.00 to $160.00 in a report on Monday, March 24th. Argus set a $155.00 target price on Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price target on Nucor in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NUE. Widmann Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Nucor by 4.0% in the third quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Nucor by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Nucor by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Nucor by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Jessup Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,229,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nucor Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $123.29 on Friday. Nucor has a 1 year low of $112.25 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The company has a market cap of $28.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $130.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.86.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Nucor will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s payout ratio is 26.16%.

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.