Nutrien Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 8,937 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 41% compared to the typical volume of 6,344 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 1,023.0% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 68,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,726,000 after acquiring an additional 62,496 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 4.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 357,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,412,000 after purchasing an additional 14,292 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Nutrien in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,474,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the 1st quarter valued at $81,000. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 54.6% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 10,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 3,563 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on NTR shares. Berenberg Bank raised Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $77.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.25.

Nutrien Trading Up 0.3 %

Nutrien stock opened at $55.41 on Thursday. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $47.90 and a 12 month high of $69.12. The company has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

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

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.38%.

About Nutrien

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.