Sanctuary Advisors LLC Sells 6,605 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,715 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,605 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC's holdings in Nucor were worth $5,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NUE. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 19,037 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,866,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Nucor by 3.6% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 85,413 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $12,840,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Nucor by 16.8% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,057 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nucor in the third quarter worth $578,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 76.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,589 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,499,436. This trade represents a 8.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on NUE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus raised Nucor to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $156.00 price target (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $183.75.

Nucor Stock Performance

NUE stock traded down $1.09 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $124.16. The stock had a trading volume of 3,078,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,582,569. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.29. Nucor Co. has a 52 week low of $123.01 and a 52 week high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.57 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 boost from Nucor's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.26%.

Nucor 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.