Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Purchased by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,739 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,189 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in Nucor were worth $7,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Nucor by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,909,388 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $617,915,000 after acquiring an additional 84,558 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Nucor by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $519,648,000 after acquiring an additional 571,682 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Nucor by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $341,580,000 after acquiring an additional 67,974 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Nucor by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,612,216 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $242,381,000 after acquiring an additional 45,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $239,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576,695 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 Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total value of $793,488.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. This trade represents a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on NUE. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus raised shares of Nucor to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $190.57.

Nucor Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:NUE traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $154.04. 1,728,498 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,559,295. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market cap of $36.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.83 and a beta of 1.55. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $149.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.81. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $133.42 and a 1 year high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.57 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given 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 1.40%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.87%.

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.