Nucor (NUE) Hikes Regular Quarterly Cash Dividend By 5.3%

Nucor Corporation’s (NYSE:NUE) board of directors recently announced an increase of 5.3% in the regular quarterly cash dividend on its common stock to 40 cents per share from 38 cents. The cash dividend is payable on Feb 11, 2019, to the stockholders of record on Dec 31, 2018.

The move marks the company's 183rd consecutive quarterly cash dividend. Also, Nucor has hiked regular dividend for 46 consecutive years. The company has returned more than $5 billion in capital to stockholders in the form of supplemental dividends, base dividends and share repurchases in the past 10 years.

Notably, Nucor had cash and cash equivalents of around $1.9 billion at the end of third-quarter 2018, up 22.6% year over year.

Shares of Nucor have lost 7.7% in the past six months compared with the industry’s decline of 25.7%.

In October, Nucor stated that it expects a decline in fourth-quarter earnings in all the three operating segments from the third-quarter’s tally, barring the impairment charge. Per the company, the anticipated downside is likely to be caused by typical seasonality factors.

Nevertheless, the company projects strong performance in the fourth quarter and expects earnings to improve significantly on a year-over-year basis. Moreover, it expects to sustain strength in the steel end use markets.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Nucor currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space include CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) and The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) along with Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) , carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

CF Industries has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 6%. The company’s shares have gained 17.4% in the past year.

Air Products has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 11.8%. Its shares have moved up 2.9% in a year’s time.

Mosaic has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 7%. The company’s shares have surged 54.6% in the past year.

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