Mirador Capital Partners LP Buys 439 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Mirador Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,689 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 439 shares during the quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Nucor were worth $664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in Nucor by 46.0% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,550 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $719,000 after acquiring an additional 1,433 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 4.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 20.3% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $565,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the second quarter worth approximately $1,651,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in Nucor by 5.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 108,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,129,000 after purchasing an additional 5,763 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 price target (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total transaction of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. This trade represents a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In 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 company insiders.

Nucor Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NUE opened at $123.44 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.10. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $112.25 and a twelve month high of $203.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.57 earnings per share. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 8.19 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.26%.

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.