Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by Harbour Investments Inc.

Harbour Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 45.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,271 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $231,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NUE. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 29.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after purchasing an additional 660,866 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nucor during the 3rd quarter valued at about $74,829,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Nucor by 14,525.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 326,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,144,000 after buying an additional 324,654 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,395,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 804,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,141,000 after acquiring an additional 153,077 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NUE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus raised Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.57.

Nucor Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:NUE opened at $147.08 on Monday. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $133.42 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total transaction of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. This trade represents a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total value of $798,825.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,132 shares in the company, valued at $13,923,837.96. This trade represents a 5.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.