Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Trims Holdings in Nucor Corporation $NUE

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR cut its stake in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) by 50.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,544 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,700 shares during the quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Nucor during the first quarter valued at $194,804,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Nucor during the first quarter valued at $141,216,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Nucor by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,959,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,484,965,000 after buying an additional 745,671 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Nucor by 355.7% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 539,310 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,327,000 after buying an additional 420,970 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Nucor by 18.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,309,452 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $277,920,000 after buying an additional 355,364 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 6,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.41, for a total transaction of $903,520.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 22,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,333,882.24. This represents a 21.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.00, for a total value of $1,051,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 92,179 shares in the company, valued at $13,458,134. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,309 shares of company stock worth $4,553,771. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Nucor from $146.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Nucor from $165.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nucor in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Nucor from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.60.

Nucor Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE NUE opened at $131.70 on Friday. Nucor Corporation has a 1-year low of $97.59 and a 1-year high of $170.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $140.92 and a 200-day moving average of $129.72. The firm has a market cap of $30.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.75.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.06. Nucor had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 4.21%.The company had revenue of $8.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 EPS. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.71%.

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.