Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Shares Sold by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 24.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 30,891 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $14,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NUE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Nucor by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,909,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $617,915,000 after purchasing an additional 84,558 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Nucor by 29.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,884,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,030,000 after buying an additional 660,866 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Nucor by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,160,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $341,580,000 after buying an additional 67,974 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,069,920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,433,000 after buying an additional 111,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Nucor by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,055,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $166,874,000 after acquiring an additional 28,384 shares during the period. 76.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. 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 research note on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.57.

Nucor Stock Performance

Shares of NUE stock opened at $142.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. The stock has a market cap of $33.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 1.55. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $133.42 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $147.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.20.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.57 EPS. Nucor’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 8.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.