JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Price Target to $168.00

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) had its target price decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $170.00 to $168.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on NUE. Argus raised shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Three research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.57.

Nucor Trading Up 0.1 %

NUE stock opened at $141.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $147.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $158.85. Nucor has a fifty-two week low of $133.42 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.59. The firm has a market cap of $33.58 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Nucor’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.57 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nucor will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 20.87%.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In related news, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 8,624 shares of Nucor 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,049 shares in the company, valued at $15,847,840. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nucor

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Nucor by 188.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,232,000 after purchasing an additional 42,178 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Nucor by 19.4% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,325 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc raised its holdings in Nucor by 4.7% in the first quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 16,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,350,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Nucor by 7.2% in the first quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 16,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in Nucor in the first quarter worth about $7,335,000. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.