Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $146.00 to $140.00. The stock had previously closed at $142.80, but opened at $136.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Nucor shares last traded at $137.51, with a volume of 856,071 shares changing hands.

NUE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Bank of America increased their price target on Nucor from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Nucor from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Nucor from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.37, for a total transaction of $1,303,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 94,080 shares in the company, valued at $12,265,209.60. The trade was a 9.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael D. Keller sold 6,088 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.41, for a total value of $903,520.08. Following the transaction, the insider owned 22,464 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,882.24. This trade represents a 21.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,397 shares of company stock valued at $6,763,814 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nucor

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nucor by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,171,068 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,778,820,000 after acquiring an additional 211,741 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Nucor by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,501,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,626,321,000 after buying an additional 371,911 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in Nucor in the 2nd quarter valued at $856,792,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Nucor in the 2nd quarter valued at $479,858,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,309,452 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $277,920,000 after acquiring an additional 355,364 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Trading Down 5.8%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $143.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.06. Nucor had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 4.21%.The business had revenue of $8.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Nucor Corporation will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.71%.

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.