Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Stake Boosted by Empower Advisory Group LLC

Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 522,074 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,517 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned about 0.22% of Nucor worth $78,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,909,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $617,915,000 after purchasing an additional 84,558 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Nucor by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after acquiring an additional 660,866 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Nucor by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $341,580,000 after acquiring an additional 67,974 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 11.6% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,069,920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,433,000 after purchasing an additional 111,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 2.8% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,055,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $166,874,000 after purchasing an additional 28,384 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NUE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.57.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE opened at $153.84 on Wednesday. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $133.42 and a one year high of $203.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $148.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $36.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.86 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 20.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total value of $798,825.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Nucor news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total value of $798,825.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,132 shares in the company, valued at $13,923,837.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,109,918.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,712 shares of company stock valued at $3,980,235 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.