Citigroup Lowers Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Price Target to $160.00

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) had its target price reduced by Citigroup from $240.00 to $160.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company's stock.

NUE has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus upgraded Nucor to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $156.00 price objective (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $173.75.

Nucor Trading Down 1.8 %

NUE stock traded down $2.18 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $115.78. The company had a trading volume of 2,868,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,598,991. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Nucor has a 52 week low of $115.29 and a 52 week high of $203.00. The stock has a market cap of $27.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.55. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $147.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $150.42.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.57 earnings per share. Nucor's quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nucor will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nucor's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total transaction of $1,860,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,136 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,636,254.72. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nucor

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NUE. State Street Corp grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 326,181 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Nucor by 3.2% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 652,502 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $98,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,258 shares during the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Nucor during the third quarter worth approximately $681,000. Ascension Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Nucor during the second quarter worth $885,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Nucor by 1.3% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company's stock.

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.