Nucor Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NUE)

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 13,596 call options on the company. This is an increase of 41% compared to the typical daily volume of 9,624 call options.

Institutional Trading of Nucor

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NUE. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Nucor during the third quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Nucor by 12.6% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $612,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Nucor during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,481,000. Commerce Bank grew its stake in Nucor by 4.9% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 16,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,457,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in Nucor by 1.7% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,629 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $696,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NUE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price target (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Argus set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Four research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.33.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE stock opened at $122.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $137.80. Nucor has a 52 week low of $112.25 and a 52 week high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. The firm has a market cap of $28.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.16%.

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.