Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 164,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,507 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of Nucor worth $28,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Nucor by 716.7% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC increased its position in shares of Nucor by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Nucor by 2,410.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $175.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.19. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $129.79 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.35 and a beta of 1.61.

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

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 80,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 80,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total transaction of $1,025,035.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Nucor 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.