Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by Leavell Investment Management Inc.

Leavell Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 685 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $934,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 1,060.2% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 2,184 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 109,174 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,413,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 209,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,560,000 after purchasing an additional 25,744 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 6,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 9,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nucor Price Performance

Nucor stock opened at $135.61 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $112.25 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.66. 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 released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business earned $3.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NUE shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price objective (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.13.

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.