Nucor Co. (NUE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.55 on May 12th

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.55 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

Nucor has raised its dividend by an average of 8.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 52 years. Nucor has a dividend payout ratio of 20.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Nucor to earn $10.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.0%.

Nucor Stock Down 1.9 %

NUE stock opened at $139.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $124.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.99. Nucor has a 52 week low of $112.25 and a 52 week high of $203.00. The company has a market capitalization of $32.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.60.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 target price (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.13.

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.