Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 481,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 22,782 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Nucor were worth $83,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,851,000 after purchasing an additional 149,589 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 7.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,794,000 after purchasing an additional 159,230 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,070,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $360,430,000 after purchasing an additional 237,752 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,463,589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $228,832,000 after purchasing an additional 11,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,094,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $190,376,000 after purchasing an additional 22,596 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nucor Stock Down 1.1 %

Nucor stock opened at $172.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 4.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 1.61. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.79 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $191.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.17.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.62 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.45 EPS. Analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on NUE. UBS Group began coverage on Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $193.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total value of $609,092.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.