Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 381,278 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,954,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 381,278 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.83% of Nucor worth $228,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new position in Nucor during the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. Canal Capital Management LLC increased its position in Nucor by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Nucor by 50.2% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 13,039 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,522,000 after purchasing an additional 4,358 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in Nucor by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 62,187 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,258,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis increased its position in Nucor by 635.6% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 73,011 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $8,521,000 after purchasing an additional 63,086 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nucor Stock Up 0.8 %

Nucor stock traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $116.66. The stock had a trading volume of 2,258,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,061,335. The company has a market capitalization of $26.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $122.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $131.41. Nucor Co. has a one year low of $97.59 and a one year high of $176.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. On average, analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NUE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group raised shares of Nucor from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nucor from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $160.33.

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.