Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Purchases 755 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 755 shares during the quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,593,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NUE. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 2,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 2,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total transaction of $1,901,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total value of $1,025,035.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,902,206.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at $15,386,751.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 in the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Nucor from $151.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group started coverage on Nucor in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $186.67.

Nucor Stock Performance

Nucor stock traded down $0.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $197.90. 1,051,990 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,337,630. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.16. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.79 and a fifty-two week high of $199.00. The stock has a market cap of $47.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.33. Nucor had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 13.03%. The business had revenue of $7.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 14.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is 12.01%.

Nucor 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.