Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor in the third quarter worth $26,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new stake in Nucor in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in Nucor by 45.6% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Nucor by 60.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $124.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $112.25 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The firm has a market cap of $29.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.17.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.57 EPS. Analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 8.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a boost from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total value of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,499,436. This trade represents a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.