Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $163.13.

NUE has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 target price (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. 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 on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Nucor Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $138.29 on Friday. Nucor has a 52-week low of $112.25 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $125.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.87. The stock has a market cap of $32.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nucor will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.16%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NUE. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Nucor by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Nucor by 3.2% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 652,502 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $98,097,000 after acquiring an additional 20,258 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $565,000. BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Nucor during the third quarter valued at approximately $681,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Nucor by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $883,732,000 after purchasing an additional 74,569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

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.