Grace & White Inc. NY Grows Stock Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Grace & White Inc. NY increased its stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 122,339 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,100 shares during the period. Nucor makes up approximately 2.7% of Grace & White Inc. NY's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Grace & White Inc. NY owned approximately 0.05% of Nucor worth $14,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 326,181 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Nucor by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $883,732,000 after buying an additional 74,569 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Nucor by 19.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $519,648,000 after acquiring an additional 571,682 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Nucor by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $205,282,000 after acquiring an additional 358,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 45,467 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NUE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Nucor from $152.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nucor from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $163.13.

Nucor Price Performance

Shares of Nucor stock traded up $2.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $137.75. 2,108,211 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,773,291. 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 has a market cap of $32.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 1.60. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $112.25 and a twelve month high of $203.00. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $124.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $140.34.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. Analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Nucor's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Nucor's payout ratio is currently 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.