First Merchants Corp Sells 712 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

First Merchants Corp lessened its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 712 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 8,530.1% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576,695 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $519,648,000 after purchasing an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at about $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Nucor by 25.6% during the 4th 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, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.9% in the 3rd 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 period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.13.

Nucor Trading Up 1.6 %

NUE stock opened at $137.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $112.25 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.62.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share 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. Research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s payout ratio is 26.16%.

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.