Monarch Capital Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Monarch Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,574 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 8,530.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,695 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Nucor by 29.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after buying an additional 660,866 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nucor during the third quarter valued at approximately $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Nucor by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,282,000 after buying an additional 358,721 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after acquiring an additional 326,181 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NUE has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 target price (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.63.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total value of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,132 shares in the company, valued at $13,923,837.96. This trade represents a 5.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NUE opened at $124.40 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $112.25 and a one year high of $203.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $133.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. The company has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.26%.

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.