Nucor Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.55 (NYSE:NUE)

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%.

Nucor has increased its dividend by an average of 8.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 52 years. Nucor has a payout ratio of 20.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Nucor to earn $10.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.0%.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE opened at $142.47 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $124.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.05. The stock has a market cap of $33.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.60. Nucor has a one year low of $112.25 and a one year high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Nucor will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NUE. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.13.

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.