King Luther Capital Management Corp Acquires 641 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 6.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Nucor were worth $1,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Nucor by 2.1% during the second quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $546,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.3% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 45.6% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,467 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Argus upgraded Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.57.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NUE stock opened at $151.90 on Friday. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $133.42 and a twelve month high of $203.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.57 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In related news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,499,436. This trade represents a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total transaction of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,109,918.96. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.