Columbus Macro LLC Cuts Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Columbus Macro LLC decreased its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 166 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Nucor by 29.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after acquiring an additional 660,866 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at about $90,216,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor during the first quarter valued at about $37,395,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 23.5% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 804,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $159,141,000 after acquiring an additional 153,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trinity Street Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the second quarter worth about $19,213,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Nucor from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus raised shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Nucor from $176.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.43.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $158.24. 1,954,002 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,535,030. Nucor Co. has a 1-year low of $133.42 and a 1-year high of $203.00. The firm has a market cap of $37.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $147.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $160.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.37. Nucor had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 10.45%. The firm had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 9.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nucor news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $1,379,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,847,840. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Nucor 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.