Madison Asset Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Madison Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 444 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Nucor by 716.7% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC boosted its position in Nucor by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Nucor by 2,410.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Nucor from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered Nucor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup upgraded Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Nucor from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Nucor in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nucor

In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total transaction of $1,901,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,386,751.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Michael D. Keller sold 3,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.67, for a total transaction of $609,092.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,817,153.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.19, for a total value of $1,901,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 80,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,386,751.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,651 shares of company stock worth $6,283,648 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of NUE stock traded up $2.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $168.85. 2,484,615 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,149,535. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $182.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.37. Nucor Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.79 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 4.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 1.65.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $8.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 12.57 EPS for the current year.

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.