Nucor Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NUE)

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 13,596 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 41% compared to the average daily volume of 9,624 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on NUE. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $154.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $164.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at $398,077,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 19.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $519,648,000 after buying an additional 571,682 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,404,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $280,627,000 after buying an additional 474,274 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 528.6% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 507,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,235,000 after buying an additional 426,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,435,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $284,220,000 after buying an additional 384,205 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nucor Stock Down 5.8 %

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $122.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $28.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. Nucor has a 12-month low of $112.25 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.16%.

About Nucor

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.