Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 111,177 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,069,920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 111,177 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.45% of Nucor worth $169,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,992,000 after acquiring an additional 3,747 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Nucor by 1.8% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 24,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,874,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Nucor by 5.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 108,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,129,000 after purchasing an additional 5,763 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,651,000. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nucor by 20.3% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nucor Stock Up 0.6 %

NUE stock opened at $143.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.56. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $133.42 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The company has a market capitalization of $34.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.41 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $8.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.69 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 10.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 12.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $1,379,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,847,840. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on NUE. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Nucor from $176.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Argus raised shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.00.

Nucor Company 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.