KCM Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 391 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Nucor were worth $3,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 129.0% during the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nucor during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nucor by 769.2% during the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

Nucor Trading Up 0.9 %

NUE traded up $1.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $147.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 215,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,543,691. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $148.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $34.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 1.55. Nucor Co. has a twelve month low of $133.42 and a twelve month high of $203.00.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. Nucor’s revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.57 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Nucor Co. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Nucor’s payout ratio is 20.87%.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other news, EVP Allen C. Behr sold 4,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total transaction of $793,488.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,376 shares in the company, valued at $13,636,254.72. This represents a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.11, for a total value of $1,860,210.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,109,918.96. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,680 shares of company stock worth $4,773,724 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on NUE. Argus raised Nucor to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. 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 report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.57.

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.