Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Takes $4.55 Million Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 39,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,552,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,967,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $701,255,000 after acquiring an additional 105,309 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 4th quarter valued at $398,077,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,435,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $284,220,000 after acquiring an additional 384,205 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,404,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $280,627,000 after acquiring an additional 474,274 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,680,468 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $196,127,000 after acquiring an additional 68,252 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NUE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $156.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on Nucor in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nucor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $160.33.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NUE opened at $120.02 on Tuesday. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $97.59 and a 12-month high of $176.59. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.18. 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 $27.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.27, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.73.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. The firm had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 39.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.