Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Receives $163.13 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $163.13.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NUE. StockNews.com downgraded Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group started 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. 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 note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 target price (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nucor

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 worth $1,724,117,000 after acquiring an additional 326,181 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its position in Nucor by 3.2% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 652,502 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $98,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,258 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth $565,000. BIP Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Nucor in the 3rd quarter valued at $681,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Nucor by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $883,732,000 after buying an additional 74,569 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE opened at $138.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $32.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.87. Nucor has a fifty-two week low of $112.25 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company posted $3.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Nucor will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nucor’s payout ratio is 26.16%.

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.