Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by Altshuler Shaham Ltd

Altshuler Shaham Ltd cut its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 30.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 258 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 112 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s holdings in Nucor were worth $45,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Nucor by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,851,000 after acquiring an additional 149,589 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,794,000 after buying an additional 159,230 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,070,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $360,430,000 after buying an additional 237,752 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,499,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $261,041,000 after buying an additional 36,304 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,094,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $190,376,000 after buying an additional 22,596 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on NUE shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group started coverage on Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $193.14.

Nucor Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:NUE traded down $1.98 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $169.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,247,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,437,831. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $187.87 and a 200 day moving average of $175.79. The company has a market cap of $40.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 1.65. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $129.79 and a 1 year high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.62 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 12.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 12.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 80,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,386,751.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,651 shares of company stock worth $6,283,648 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.