Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Issues Q2 Earnings Guidance

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Monday. The company provided EPS guidance of below $3.46 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $3.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on NUE. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a buy rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Nucor from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nucor from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $193.14.

Nucor Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NUE traded up $3.12 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $175.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,622,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,443,334. Nucor has a 1 year low of $129.79 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The firm has a market cap of $42.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 4.02 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $191.04 and its 200 day moving average is $174.17.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Nucor will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 12.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total value of $1,025,035.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,902,206.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total value of $1,025,035.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,326 shares in the company, valued at $15,902,206.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.