Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Rating Increased to Hold at Wells Fargo & Company

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on NUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Nucor from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Nucor from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $140.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $153.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.78.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE opened at $145.49 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.74. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $135.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.91. Nucor has a 12 month low of $97.59 and a 12 month high of $170.52.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.06. Nucor had a net margin of 4.21% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The firm had revenue of $8.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.68 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Nucor will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.87, for a total transaction of $906,342.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 99,379 shares in the company, valued at $12,707,592.73. This trade represents a 6.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.37, for a total transaction of $1,303,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 94,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,265,209.60. The trade was a 9.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,109 shares of company stock worth $3,360,094 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nucor

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Nucor by 113.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,472,000 after purchasing an additional 6,028 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in Nucor during the second quarter valued at about $88,000. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc purchased a new position in Nucor in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in Nucor by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 20,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,695,000 after buying an additional 1,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Nucor in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

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.