Nucor Corp. announced Tuesday a fourth-quarter profit of $159.6 million, or 50 cents per share, beating analyst expectations due to higher prices.

The Charlotte-based steel company reported a loss of $187.5 million, or 59 cents per share, a year ago. Earnings beat analysts expectations of 34 cents per share.

Nucor reported fourth quarter revenue of $3.96 billion, a 14.5 percent increase from the prior quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange filing.

Steel mill production was up 13 percent to 4.99 million tons, and total shipments jumped at an even faster 16 percent rate to 5.15 million tons.

“Prices began to increase during the fourth quarter for our steel mills segment and we expect that trend to continue into the first quarter of 2017,” Nucor management said.

For full-year 2016, the steel giant logged a profit of $796.3 million, or $2.48 per share, up from a profit of $80.7 million, or 25 cents per share, in 2015.

Sales for the full year edged down 1 percent year over year to $16.2 billion

Founded in 1940, Nucor is one of the largest American producers of steel and related products in the U.S.

Its shares were trading at $58.13, down $1.97, or 3.27 percent in afternoon trading.

The form can be found here.