JPMorgan Chase & Co. Begins Coverage on Nucor (NYSE:NUE)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Nucor (NYSE:NUE – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports. The firm issued an underweight rating and a $130.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on shares of Nucor from $140.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, March 17th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Nucor in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Nucor from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. UBS Group cut their price target on Nucor from $145.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Nucor from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $148.88.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $134.69 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 3.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 1.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.34. Nucor has a 52-week low of $100.13 and a 52-week high of $182.68.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The basic materials company reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.81 by $0.64. Nucor had a return on equity of 34.91% and a net margin of 16.73%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $7.67 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor will post 16.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 11th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to repurchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Nucor during the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Nucor by 150.6% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 7,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Nucor by 106.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 35,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after acquiring an additional 18,488 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the first quarter valued at about $284,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor in the first quarter valued at about $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.33% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Company Profile

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Nucor Corp. engages in the manufacturing of steel and steel products. It operates through the following segments: Steel Mills, Steel Products, and Raw Materials. The Steel Mills segment consists of carbon and alloy steel in sheet, bars, structural and plate, steel trading businesses, rebar distribution businesses, and Nucor’s equity method investments.