Zhang Financial LLC Has $617,000 Stock Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Zhang Financial LLC increased its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 8,530.1% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,695 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Nucor by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,648,000 after purchasing an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Nucor in the 3rd quarter worth $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,282,000 after purchasing an additional 358,721 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,724,117,000 after buying an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total transaction of $1,860,210.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at $29,109,918.96. This trade represents a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nucor Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $124.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.60. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $112.25 and a 12-month high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.40.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.57 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 8.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. This is an increase from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 21.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.63.

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.