Artemis Investment Management LLP Invests $7.34 Million in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 37,082 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,335,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in Nucor by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 16,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc raised its position in Nucor by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 16,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,350,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in Nucor by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,325 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders raised its position in Nucor by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 5,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Nucor by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on NUE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $189.67.

Nucor Price Performance

NUE opened at $158.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 4.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $140.07 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.69. The stock has a market cap of $37.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.30 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 12.40%. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 10.84 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 12.71%.

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.