Fmr LLC Boosts Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Fmr LLC lifted its position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,705,904 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 762,269 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned 3.46% of Nucor worth $1,344,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NUE. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Delta Asset Management LLC TN purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC purchased a new position in Nucor in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. purchased a new position in Nucor in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. 79.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 27,359 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.19, for a total transaction of $4,601,510.21. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,163,300.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 27,359 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.19, for a total transaction of $4,601,510.21. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,163,300.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel R. Needham sold 7,002 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $1,190,340.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 83,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,127,170. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,320 shares of company stock valued at $10,584,084 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Shares of NYSE:NUE traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $164.96. 225,584 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,623,596. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.82 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market cap of $41.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.60. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $165.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.07. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $102.86 and a 1 year high of $182.68.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 24th. The basic materials company reported $5.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.59 by $0.22. Nucor had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The company had revenue of $9.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.67 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Nucor Co. will post 18.76 EPS for the current year.

Nucor announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to purchase up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 30th were given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NUE shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Nucor from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Nucor from $145.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Nucor from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on shares of Nucor from $156.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Nucor from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $160.33.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on NUE

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. The company's 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 products; and bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products.

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