Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Short Interest Update

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,760,000 shares, a decrease of 18.6% from the December 15th total of 5,850,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,180,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nucor news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares in the company, valued at $29,109,918.96. This trade represents a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total value of $798,825.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. This represents a 5.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nucor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Nucor by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $883,732,000 after acquiring an additional 74,569 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Nucor by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $519,648,000 after purchasing an additional 571,682 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $341,580,000 after purchasing an additional 67,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Nucor by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,282,000 after buying an additional 358,721 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Price Performance

NUE stock traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $124.52. 197,052 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,102,205. Nucor has a one year low of $112.25 and a one year 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 company has a market cap of $29.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.94.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company’s revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.57 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Nucor will post 8.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This is a boost from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Nucor’s payout ratio is presently 21.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price 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 target price on shares of Nucor from $168.00 to $152.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.63.

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.