Ritholtz Wealth Management Trims Stock Position in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lessened its stake in Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) by 20.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,068 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 517 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Nucor were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 65.9% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,375 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 314,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,651,000 after acquiring an additional 28,622 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 35,988 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,200,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,931 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 53,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,206,000 after acquiring an additional 13,611 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 34,238 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,993 shares in the company, valued at $19,590,128.67. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Nucor Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE NUE opened at $124.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.67. Nucor Corporation has a 52-week low of $97.59 and a 52-week high of $170.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $116.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). Nucor had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 6.82%. The company had revenue of $7.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.15%.

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.