Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Bought by Hancock Whitney Corp

Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Nucor were worth $8,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Nucor by 8,530.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,595,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576,695 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 29.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $456,030,000 after purchasing an additional 660,866 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Nucor during the third quarter valued at approximately $74,829,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Nucor by 14,525.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 326,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,144,000 after buying an additional 324,654 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Nucor by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,283,111 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $192,902,000 after buying an additional 262,493 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on NUE. Argus upgraded shares of Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.57.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NUE opened at $152.51 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. Nucor Co. has a 52 week low of $133.42 and a 52 week high of $203.00. The firm has a market cap of $35.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total transaction of $798,825.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. The trade was a 5.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,499,436. This represents a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

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.