Ieq Capital LLC Raises Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $2,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Nucor during the 1st quarter worth approximately $90,216,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Nucor in the 1st quarter worth $37,395,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Nucor by 23.5% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 804,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $159,141,000 after acquiring an additional 153,077 shares during the period. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the second quarter valued at about $19,213,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 11.6% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,069,920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,433,000 after acquiring an additional 111,177 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on NUE shares. Argus raised Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $170.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Nucor from $176.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.00.

Nucor Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $146.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $35.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.02. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $133.42 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 1.85.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its 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 business had revenue of $8.08 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.81 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 12.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.