Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Has $462,000 Stock Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 107 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Widmann Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in Nucor by 45.6% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Nucor by 1.4% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,467 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Nucor by 1.5% in the third quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 5,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In related news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. This represents a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NUE has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price objective (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.63.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NUE opened at $123.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $29.00 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $134.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.94. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $112.25 and a 1-year high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.26%.

Nucor 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.