Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) Receives $157.22 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $157.22.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Nucor from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Argus set a $155.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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.

Nucor Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $126.21 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $115.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.15. The company has a market cap of $29.12 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.67. Nucor has a 52-week low of $97.59 and a 52-week high of $170.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.52.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.25 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 6.82% and a net margin of 4.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nucor will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.15%.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other Nucor 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 value of $4,115,065.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,590,128.67. This trade represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nucor in the fourth quarter worth approximately $398,077,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Nucor in the first quarter worth approximately $194,804,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Nucor in the first quarter worth approximately $141,216,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,959,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,484,965,000 after purchasing an additional 745,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 17,785.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,867,000 after purchasing an additional 502,961 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.