Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Releases Q1 Earnings Guidance

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $0.50-0.60 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.06.

Nucor Trading Down 5.8 %

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $122.02 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $130.65 and a 200 day moving average of $137.80. The stock has a market cap of $28.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. Nucor has a 1 year low of $112.25 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nucor will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NUE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price objective (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.33.

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.