Man Group plc Acquires 5,896 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Man Group plc lifted its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,896 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in Nucor were worth $13,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Nucor by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on NUE shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on Nucor in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $160.33.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE stock opened at $115.85 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $97.59 and a 1 year high of $173.00. The company has a market cap of $26.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $117.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.49.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The firm had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is 39.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total value of $4,115,065.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,590,128.67. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.