Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $96.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $74.00.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.12.

Nutrien Stock Up 5.7%

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $83.83 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.44. The stock has a market cap of $40.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $45.78 and a 12 month high of $85.35.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The company had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Nutrien by 440.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,008,713,000 after buying an additional 13,313,817 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 2nd quarter worth about $395,842,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,944,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $696,058,000 after buying an additional 3,900,755 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 2nd quarter valued at about $150,416,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,928,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559,673 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. is a global fertilizer and agricultural-services company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The company is publicly traded and operates across the farm input value chain, combining upstream fertilizer production with a broad retail and services platform aimed at supporting crop production worldwide. Nutrien’s business model integrates the manufacture and distribution of crop nutrients with on-the-ground agronomic support for growers and agricultural businesses.

Nutrien produces and supplies the three primary fertilizer nutrients—potash, nitrogen and phosphate—through its wholesale operations, and markets a wide range of crop inputs including seeds and crop protection products.