Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Nutrien (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 11,970 put options on the company. This is an increase of 45% compared to the average volume of 8,229 put options.

Nutrien Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NTR stock opened at $62.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $30.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.72 and a 200-day moving average of $65.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Nutrien has a 1-year low of $52.23 and a 1-year high of $91.43.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $2.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.30). Nutrien had a return on equity of 16.41% and a net margin of 11.05%. The business had revenue of $11.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 28th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NTR shares. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on Nutrien from $49.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 7th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $83.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Sunday, August 6th. Barclays downgraded Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Nutrien from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $94.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.79.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Nutrien by 79.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,490,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,929,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,030 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,370,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the first quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. grew its stake in Nutrien by 5.7% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 11,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in Nutrien by 55.2% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.77% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Company Profile

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate segments. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products. The Nitrogen segment offers ammonia, urea, urea ammonium nitrate, industrial grade ammonium nitrate, and ammonium sulfate.