GWN Securities Inc. Purchases New Shares in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,628 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Nucor by 19.8% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,648,000 after acquiring an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Nucor by 25.6% during the fourth 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,714,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,724,117,000 after acquiring an additional 326,181 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,731,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Argus set a $155.00 target price on shares of Nucor in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price target (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.33.

Nucor Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $132.26 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.42. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $112.25 and a 12-month high of $203.00. 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 stock has a market cap of $30.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its 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 in the previous year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.