Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Has $15.33 Million Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 131,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 10,528 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.06% of Nucor worth $15,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Nucor during the fourth quarter worth $398,077,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Nucor by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,282,000 after purchasing an additional 358,721 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Nucor during the 4th quarter worth about $38,714,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,724,117,000 after buying an additional 326,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,906,000. 76.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $156.00 to $160.00 in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $164.44.

Nucor Price Performance

NUE stock opened at $119.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $130.79 and its 200-day moving average is $136.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $112.25 and a 1 year high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.16%.

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.