B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Buys 123 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $621,000 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. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Nucor by 129.0% in the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. bought a new stake in Nucor during the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in Nucor by 45.6% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 target price (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.75.

Nucor Stock Down 2.5 %

Nucor stock opened at $117.96 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $117.57 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.57 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. This is an increase from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.26%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. This trade represents a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction 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 $14,499,436. This represents a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.