Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,243,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NUE. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,747,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,070,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $360,430,000 after buying an additional 237,752 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,794,000 after buying an additional 159,230 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,851,000 after buying an additional 149,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 680,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $106,395,000 after buying an additional 128,536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup raised shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.14.

Nucor Price Performance

Nucor stock traded up $3.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $173.92. 1,054,672 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,443,490. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $189.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.86. The stock has a market cap of $41.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23 and a beta of 1.65. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $129.79 and a one year high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 4.02.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 12.40%. The business’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 12.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 12.71%.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total value of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Nucor news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total transaction of $3,772,655.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,351,936.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,651 shares of company stock worth $6,283,648. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by 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.