Nucor Corporation $NUE Position Lowered by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) by 47.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,889 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nucor in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. GK Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Markowski Investments bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NUE. Freedom Broker downgraded Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $270.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $304.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nucor from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.86.

Key Headlines Impacting Nucor

Here are the key news stories impacting Nucor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street Zen upgraded Nucor, providing a favorable analyst signal that may support investor confidence in the steelmaker. Nucor Upgraded at Wall Street Zen
• Positive Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha analysis argues that the market is focusing too heavily on short-term quarterly volatility and may be overlooking Nucor’s longer-term investment case. That framing could encourage investors to look beyond near-term earnings fluctuations. Nucor Q3 Earnings Analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Broader steel-sector sentiment improved after Cleveland-Cliffs reported its strongest quarter in three years. Nucor and Steel Dynamics also moved higher, suggesting investors may be anticipating better operating conditions for domestic steel producers. Cleveland-Cliffs and Steel Stocks Rally
• Positive Sentiment: A Zacks feature identifies Nucor as a highly ranked basic-materials stock, reinforcing the view that it may offer attractive relative strength and earnings potential. Top Basic Materials Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Nucor is scheduled to release earnings on Monday, keeping the stock centered on expectations for its next quarterly results. Nucor Earnings Release
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks cautions that Nucor lacks the two key ingredients associated with a likely earnings beat, potentially limiting upside if results or guidance fall short of elevated expectations. Nucor Earnings Expectations

Nucor Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $261.05 on Tuesday. Nucor Corporation has a one year low of $133.78 and a one year high of $280.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $253.44 and its 200 day moving average is $239.18. The firm has a market cap of $59.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.84.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The basic materials company reported $4.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.46 by $0.38. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 7.99%. The business had revenue of $10.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nucor Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In related news, EVP Thomas J. Batterbee sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.02, for a total transaction of $1,044,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,212,340.76. This represents a 19.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Stephen D. Laxton sold 3,968 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.96, for a total value of $1,019,617.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 77,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,008,704.32. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Company Profile

Nucor Corporation is a steel producer headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company manufactures steel and steel products for customers in construction, automotive, energy, heavy equipment, transportation and other industrial markets.

Nucor’s operations include electric arc furnace steel mills, which produce carbon, alloy and galvanized steel products. Its product portfolio includes sheet steel, plate, beams, bars, wire and wire mesh, steel joists, deck, piling, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel and other downstream products.