Nucor Co. (NUE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.55 on May 12th

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Nucor has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Nucor has a dividend payout ratio of 20.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Nucor to earn $10.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.0%.

Nucor Stock Down 4.4 %

NUE stock opened at $121.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.51. Nucor has a fifty-two week low of $112.25 and a fifty-two week high of $203.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.29. The company has a market cap of $28.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Nucor will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NUE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Nucor in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group raised Nucor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $156.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Nucor in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.44.

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.