Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Buys Shares of 3,467 Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,467 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 528.6% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 507,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,235,000 after buying an additional 426,949 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in Nucor by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 8,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 2,327 shares during the last quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY lifted its stake in Nucor by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 122,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,278,000 after buying an additional 13,100 shares during the last quarter. OFC Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at $878,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 274.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 177,232 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,685,000 after buying an additional 129,938 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.33.

Nucor Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE NUE opened at $115.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $117.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.81. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $97.59 and a 12 month high of $176.59. The company has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.73.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. The business had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 39.15%.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total value of $4,115,065.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,590,128.67. This trade represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.