Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Lifted to Buy at Berenberg Bank

Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $66.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $60.00.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on NTR. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set an outperform rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Nutrien from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $86.00 to $80.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $68.25.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $52.63 on Monday. Nutrien has a one year low of $47.90 and a one year high of $69.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $53.35 and a 200-day moving average of $53.87. The company has a market capitalization of $26.03 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.35). Nutrien had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. Nutrien’s revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 85.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blume Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.1% in the first quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $930,000 after buying an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the first quarter valued at about $767,000. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the first quarter valued at about $1,146,000. Allen Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the first quarter valued at about $1,318,000. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 188.5% in the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 7,249 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Company Profile

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products.