Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Price Target Raised to $149.00 at Morgan Stanley

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $134.00 to $149.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on NUE. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus set a $155.00 price target on shares of Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.56.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $124.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.08, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $116.31 and a 200-day moving average of $122.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Nucor has a fifty-two week low of $97.59 and a fifty-two week high of $170.52.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly 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 6.82% and a net margin of 4.40%. The business had revenue of $7.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.19, for a total transaction of $4,115,065.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,590,128.67. The trade was a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nucor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NUE. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 73.5% during the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 81.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

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.