Liberty One Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Nucor Corporation $NUE

Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) by 35.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NUE. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nucor in the first quarter valued at approximately $194,804,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Nucor in the first quarter worth approximately $141,216,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 745,671 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 355.7% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 539,310 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,327,000 after acquiring an additional 420,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Nucor by 18.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,309,452 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $277,920,000 after acquiring an additional 355,364 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on NUE shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $146.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $182.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $157.60.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.90, for a total transaction of $1,449,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 84,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,183,192. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 6,088 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.41, for a total transaction of $903,520.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,464 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,882.24. The trade was a 21.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,309 shares of company stock worth $4,553,771 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.71% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Stock Up 3.0%

NUE stock opened at $140.66 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Nucor Corporation has a twelve month low of $97.59 and a twelve month high of $170.52. The company’s 50 day moving average is $140.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $130.21. The stock has a market cap of $32.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.75.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.06. Nucor had a net margin of 4.21% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The company had revenue of $8.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.71%.

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.