Bank of Montreal Can Sells 12,942 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 236,141 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,942 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.10% of Nucor worth $35,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Nucor by 5.4% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Nucor by 139.8% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,817 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Nucor in the first quarter worth about $37,395,000. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Nucor by 24.4% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 12,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,562,000 after purchasing an additional 2,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Nucor by 286.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 105,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,962,000 after purchasing an additional 78,528 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other Nucor news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total value of $798,825.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. The trade was a 5.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value 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 $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on NUE. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.57.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NUE stock opened at $154.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 1.55. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $133.42 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were given a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.87%.

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.