Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Downgraded to Sell Rating by UBS Group

UBS Group lowered shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $67.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $63.00.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Bank of America raised their price target on Nutrien from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.33.

Nutrien Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $73.69 on Thursday. Nutrien has a 52 week low of $45.78 and a 52 week high of $85.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average is $72.79 and its 200-day moving average is $63.77. The company has a market capitalization of $35.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued 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 yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,386,546,000 after acquiring an additional 479,834 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Nutrien by 440.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,008,713,000 after acquiring an additional 13,313,817 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Nutrien by 19.1% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,221,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $834,962,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,651 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Nutrien by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,307,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $821,326,000 after purchasing an additional 70,068 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Nutrien by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,798,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,745,000 after purchasing an additional 189,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.