Bull Street Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Bull Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Bull Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Nucor by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,724,117,000 after purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Nucor by 19.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $519,648,000 after purchasing an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Nucor by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,282,000 after purchasing an additional 358,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Nucor by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,612,216 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,381,000 after purchasing an additional 45,467 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $137.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $124.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.62. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $112.25 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The company has a market cap of $32.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on NUE shares. UBS Group reiterated 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.13.

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.