California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 22,782 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 481,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 22,782 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.20% of Nucor worth $83,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at about $108,747,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,070,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $360,430,000 after buying an additional 237,752 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,794,000 after buying an additional 159,230 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,851,000 after buying an additional 149,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 680,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $106,395,000 after buying an additional 128,536 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total transaction of $1,025,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,153.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup raised shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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 report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.14.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE opened at $172.76 on Thursday. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $129.79 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 1.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $191.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.17.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). Nucor had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.71%.

Nucor Company 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.