Davis Investment Partners LLC Buys 961 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Davis Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 31.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 961 shares during the period. Davis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $450,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Nucor by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,967,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $701,255,000 after buying an additional 105,309 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nucor in the fourth quarter worth about $398,077,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Nucor by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,435,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $284,220,000 after buying an additional 384,205 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Nucor by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,404,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $280,627,000 after buying an additional 474,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Nucor by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,680,468 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $196,127,000 after buying an additional 68,252 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total transaction of $4,115,065.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,993 shares in the company, valued at $19,590,128.67. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Trading Down 6.0%

NYSE:NUE opened at $117.17 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $114.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.26. Nucor Co. has a 52 week low of $97.59 and a 52 week high of $170.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.68.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted 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 net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The firm had revenue of $7.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Nucor’s payout ratio is 39.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NUE shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Nucor from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.22.

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.