Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Acquired by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV grew its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 267.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 118,542 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 86,279 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Nucor were worth $17,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Pension Service raised its stake in Nucor by 3.2% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 652,502 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $98,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,258 shares during the period. CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 52.8% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 17,245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after purchasing an additional 5,960 shares during the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. raised its holdings in Nucor by 86.2% in the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 12,895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,552,000 after buying an additional 5,971 shares during the period. Ascension Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Nucor during the second quarter worth about $885,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,655,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NUE. Argus raised Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.57.

Nucor Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $146.38 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $148.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.22. The stock has a market cap of $34.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $133.42 and a 52-week high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.57 EPS. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.87%.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total transaction of $1,860,210.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,109,918.96. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,499,436. This trade represents a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.