First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Raises Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 11.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at $3,481,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nucor by 94.2% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Nucor by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 262,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,665,000 after purchasing an additional 15,058 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in Nucor by 53.2% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 13,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,592 shares during the period. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at $1,230,000. 76.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Nucor from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a 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, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $189.67.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE stock opened at $156.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 4.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 1.57. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $140.07 and a one year high of $203.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.51.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.62 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The business’s revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.45 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 10.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 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.