Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,038 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.05% of Nucor worth $14,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 8,530.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576,695 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Nucor by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $519,648,000 after purchasing an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor in the third quarter valued at approximately $74,829,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted 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 in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after buying an additional 326,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 price target (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.13.

Nucor Price Performance

Nucor stock opened at $137.75 on Monday. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.34. The stock has a market cap of $32.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 1.60. Nucor Co. has a 12-month low of $112.25 and a 12-month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued 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 return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. 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.