Bank of Montreal Can Decreases Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 226,021 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,120 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.10% of Nucor worth $26,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 15.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 249,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,583,000 after buying an additional 34,149 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Nucor by 82.5% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Nucor by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $883,732,000 after purchasing an additional 74,569 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 4.0% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 76.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NUE shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $156.00 to $160.00 in a report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a report 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 report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.11.

Nucor Trading Down 5.2 %

NYSE:NUE opened at $109.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $97.59 and a one year high of $199.15. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.82.

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

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.16%.

Nucor Company Profile

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.