RIA Advisory Group LLC Makes New Investment in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,784 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Nucor by 127,059.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 155,232,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,461,138,000 after buying an additional 155,109,984 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nucor by 0.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,438,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $841,209,000 after purchasing an additional 23,366 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Nucor by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,247,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $559,880,000 after purchasing an additional 979,824 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Nucor by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,175,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,851,000 after purchasing an additional 149,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Nucor by 7.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,262,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,794,000 after purchasing an additional 159,230 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group began coverage on Nucor in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Nucor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Nucor from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.83.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NUE stock traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $191.36. 1,622,438 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,378,817. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $191.09 and a 200 day moving average of $173.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Nucor Co. has a 52-week low of $129.79 and a 52-week high of $203.00. The company has a market cap of $45.92 billion, a PE ratio of 10.62 and a beta of 1.61.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.33. Nucor had a net margin of 13.03% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The business had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 13.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.01%.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In related news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total value of $1,025,035.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Nucor news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total value of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.37, for a total transaction of $1,025,035.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683. 0.46% of the stock is 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.