First Merchants Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

First Merchants Corp reduced its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 712 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in Nucor by 2.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 326,181 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 74,569 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,648,000 after purchasing an additional 571,682 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Nucor by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,282,000 after purchasing an additional 358,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,612,216 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,381,000 after purchasing an additional 45,467 shares during the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nucor Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:NUE opened at $137.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $112.25 and a one year high of $203.00.

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

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on NUE shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Nucor from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.13.

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.