Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 300,411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,745 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.13% of Nucor worth $35,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Horrell Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Nucor by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Jessup Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in Nucor by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC grew its position in Nucor by 1.0% during the third quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 9,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Nucor by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NUE. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.44.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE stock opened at $103.14 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $130.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.67. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $99.77 and a 12 month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 26.16%.

Nucor 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.