Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Price Target Cut to $296.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) had its target price cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $308.00 to $296.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.28% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on NUE. UBS Group upped their target price on Nucor from $224.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Nucor from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Nucor from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Freedom Broker downgraded Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Friday, September 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.07.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE traded up $4.11 on Friday, hitting $250.25. 727,752 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,553,279. Nucor has a 52 week low of $131.32 and a 52 week high of $280.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $255.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $234.72.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The basic materials company reported $4.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.46 by $0.38. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 7.99%.The company had revenue of $10.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Nucor will post 18.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas Batterbee sold 4,000 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,138 shares in the company, valued at $4,212,340.76. This represents a 19.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Stephen Laxton sold 3,968 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 77,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,008,704.32. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Nucor in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,452,563,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 0.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,539,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $429,298,000 after purchasing an additional 22,718 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the second quarter valued at approximately $462,886,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the second quarter valued at approximately $413,814,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 1.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,809,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $306,054,000 after purchasing an additional 29,476 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

About Nucor

Nucor Corporation is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based steel producer and one of the largest steel companies in North America. The company operates electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills that use recycled scrap steel as a primary raw material, along with facilities that manufacture and process steel products for construction, manufacturing, transportation, energy and other industrial markets.

Nucor’s product portfolio includes carbon and alloy steel in sheet, plate, bar and structural forms, as well as reinforcing steel, wire and wire mesh.