Hennessy Advisors Inc. Has $3.25 Million Stock Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $3,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jessup Wealth Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 16,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,350,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,325 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 23.7% during the 1st quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 5,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Nucor by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank of Raymore grew its stake in Nucor by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Community Bank of Raymore now owns 11,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,300,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NUE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Nucor from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $189.67.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NUE traded up $4.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $158.91. 1,422,085 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,456,951. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $167.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.10 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10 and a beta of 1.60. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $140.07 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 4.02.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 12.40%. Nucor’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Nucor’s payout ratio is 12.71%.

About Nucor

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.