Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. Trims Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 28.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,574 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 625 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Nucor were worth $184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Nucor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $398,077,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Nucor by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,282,000 after buying an additional 358,721 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Nucor during the fourth quarter valued at $38,714,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Nucor by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,724,117,000 after buying an additional 326,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Nucor in the 4th quarter worth about $25,906,000. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NUE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. 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. StockNews.com upgraded Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on Nucor in a report on Monday, March 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.44.

Nucor Stock Down 6.1 %

NUE opened at $103.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. Nucor Co. has a 12 month low of $99.77 and a 12 month high of $203.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $130.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. Nucor’s payout ratio is currently 26.16%.

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.