Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by UMB Bank n.a.

UMB Bank n.a. cut its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 24.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,828 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,469 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $2,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NUE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at about $398,077,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 17,785.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,867,000 after buying an additional 502,961 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,404,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $280,627,000 after buying an additional 474,274 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 528.6% in the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 507,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,235,000 after buying an additional 426,949 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,435,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $284,220,000 after buying an additional 384,205 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on NUE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Nucor from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.22.

Nucor Stock Up 2.5%

NUE stock opened at $121.71 on Monday. Nucor Co. has a 52 week low of $97.59 and a 52 week high of $170.52. The company has a market capitalization of $28.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $113.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. The company had revenue of $7.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total value of $4,115,065.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,590,128.67. The trade was a 17.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by 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.