Hennessy Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,100 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 7.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. 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 filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NUE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Nucor during the fourth quarter worth about $377,631,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Nucor by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,070,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $360,430,000 after buying an additional 237,752 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Nucor by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,499,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $261,041,000 after buying an additional 36,304 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Nucor by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,367,209 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $237,949,000 after buying an additional 85,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Nucor by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,094,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $190,376,000 after buying an additional 22,596 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nucor Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE:NUE traded up $4.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $158.91. 1,422,085 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,456,951. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $140.07 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10 and a beta of 1.60.

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

Nucor Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NUE. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Nucor from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $189.67.

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.