AQR Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 3.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 84,503 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,366 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $13,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Nucor by 29.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after acquiring an additional 660,866 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 1st quarter valued at $90,216,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 1st quarter valued at $37,395,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 804,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,141,000 after purchasing an additional 153,077 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Street Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the 2nd quarter worth about $19,213,000. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NUE. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $176.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Nucor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE opened at $152.71 on Wednesday. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $133.42 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.98 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.69 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.69%. Nucor’s revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.81 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 9.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 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.