Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.44.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NTR shares. TD Securities decreased their price target on Nutrien from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Nutrien Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NTR stock opened at $48.32 on Friday. Nutrien has a 12-month low of $44.65 and a 12-month high of $60.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $23.86 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $47.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.61.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The business had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.939 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 144.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTR. Silchester International Investors LLP raised its stake in Nutrien by 164.4% during the 3rd quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,437,000 after buying an additional 6,642,075 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 15.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $719,668,000 after buying an additional 1,794,333 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 34.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,066,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,385,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,763 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,839,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,058,000 after acquiring an additional 844,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new position in Nutrien in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,176,000. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.