Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Trims Stake in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE - Free Report) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,876,336 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 359,564 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.94% of Nucor worth $753,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NUE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nucor by 127,059.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 155,232,061 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $20,461,138,000 after purchasing an additional 155,109,984 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nucor by 391.4% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,005,223 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597,162 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Nucor by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,247,626 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $559,880,000 after purchasing an additional 979,824 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in Nucor by 90.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,863,335 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $287,829,000 after purchasing an additional 883,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Nucor during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $111,725,000. 77.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

A number of research firms have commented on NUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Nucor from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Nucor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded Nucor from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on Nucor from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upped their price target on Nucor from $156.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $160.33.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Nucor

In related news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 5,194 shares of Nucor stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.92, for a total value of $898,146.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 139,326 shares in the company, valued at $24,092,251.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Nucor news, EVP Douglas J. Jellison sold 5,194 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.92, for a total value of $898,146.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 139,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,092,251.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Leon J. Topalian sold 27,359 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 27th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,320 shares of company stock worth $10,584,084. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Nucor stock traded down $1.46 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $170.26. The company had a trading volume of 645,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,615,047. Nucor Co. has a 52 week low of $102.86 and a 52 week high of $182.68. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $166.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 3.82, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th were given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Nucor's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Nucor declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 11th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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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