ING Groep NV Acquires 86,279 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 267.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,542 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 86,279 shares during the period. ING Groep NV's holdings in Nucor were worth $17,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Nucor in the first quarter valued at approximately $53,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 42.5% in the first quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,158 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 942 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 13.1% in the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,965 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $785,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. raised its position in Nucor by 86.2% in the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 12,895 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,552,000 after purchasing an additional 5,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC raised its position in Nucor by 89.7% in the 1st quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 58,309 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,539,000 after purchasing an additional 27,576 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NUE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Nucor to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $190.57.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the business'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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,636,254.72. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the business'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 directly owns 98,770 shares in the company, valued at $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 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Nucor Trading Up 0.5 %

NUE traded up $0.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $147.08. 1,488,566 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,549,564. The company's fifty day moving average price is $148.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.16. 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 fifty-two week low of $133.42 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.57 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Nucor's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.