JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Price Target to $152.00

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) had its target price trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $168.00 to $152.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on NUE. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price objective (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.63.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $124.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.60. Nucor has a 1-year low of $112.25 and a 1-year high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nucor will post 8.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 21.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,499,436. This trade represents a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 over the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nucor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after buying an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nucor by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $883,732,000 after buying an additional 74,569 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Nucor by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,648,000 after buying an additional 571,682 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $341,580,000 after acquiring an additional 67,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Nucor by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,282,000 after acquiring an additional 358,721 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.