Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Nucor Corporation $NUE

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 282,846 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,205 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Nucor worth $47,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Nucor by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,407,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,633,554,000 after buying an additional 144,038 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Nucor by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,853,205 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $628,497,000 after acquiring an additional 41,728 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $609,002,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,103,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $342,642,000 after acquiring an additional 210,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,919,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $313,152,000 after acquiring an additional 56,565 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.08, for a total value of $2,282,503.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 62,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,213,875.68. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Noah C. Hanners sold 6,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.50, for a total value of $1,465,908.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 50,377 shares in the company, valued at $11,410,390.50. The trade was a 11.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 82,378 shares of company stock valued at $18,963,930 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on NUE shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Nucor from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group lowered shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $224.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Nucor from $292.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Nucor from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $274.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $266.31.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $236.77 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $239.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $201.64. The firm has a market cap of $53.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.91. Nucor Corporation has a 52 week low of $131.32 and a 52 week high of $270.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The basic materials company reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.41. Nucor had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The company had revenue of $9.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nucor Corporation will post 17.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.18%.

Nucor Company Profile

Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) is an American steel producer headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company is primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of steel and steel products, operating a network of steel mills, recycling facilities and fabrication plants across the United States and North America. Nucor’s operations emphasize electric arc furnace steelmaking using recycled scrap metal, which supports a decentralized, mill-based production model focused on efficiency and flexibility.

Product offerings span a broad range of basic and value‑added steel items, including sheet, plate, merchant bar, structural beams, reinforcing bar, tubing, fasteners and fabricated components.