New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $28.57 Million Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 164,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,507 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Nucor were worth $28,574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nucor by 310.9% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in Nucor by 0.7% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 14,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,208,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Nucor in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,182,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Nucor by 46.2% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 43,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,797,000 after acquiring an additional 13,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nucor by 8.8% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 112,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,650,000 after acquiring an additional 9,098 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,902,206.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 19,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total transaction of $3,772,655.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 120,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,351,936.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,151 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,683 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on NUE. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group assumed coverage on Nucor in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.14.

Nucor Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Nucor stock opened at $175.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 4.02 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market cap of $42.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.35 and a beta of 1.61. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $129.79 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $190.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.19.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.62 by ($0.16). Nucor had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The business had revenue of $8.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.45 earnings per share. Nucor’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Nucor’s payout ratio is 12.71%.

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.