Smith Moore & CO. Raises Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Smith Moore & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 29.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 416 shares during the quarter. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Nucor by 60.3% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Nucor by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Nucor during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on NUE shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price target on Nucor in a research report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.44.

Nucor Trading Down 6.1 %

Shares of NUE opened at $103.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $95.70 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The company has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.31.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.16%.

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.