Nucor Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:NUE)

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 10,677 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 23% compared to the typical volume of 8,660 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,636,254.72. This trade represents a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,452,524 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nucor

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Widmann Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 4.0% during the third quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its position in Nucor by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP raised its position in Nucor by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 5,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $789,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Nucor by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,629 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.63.

Nucor Price Performance

NUE traded up $4.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $126.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,004,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,361,334. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $130.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.34. Nucor has a 12 month low of $112.25 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The stock has a market cap of $29.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Nucor will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 21.26%.

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.