Covea Finance Increases Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Covea Finance boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 21.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 55,600 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. Covea Finance’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $2,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the second quarter worth $52,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Nutrien by 1,370.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 56.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 113.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NTR shares. Raymond James raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday. UBS Group cut Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, CIBC reissued an “outperformer” rating and issued a $55.00 price target (down from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.21.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE NTR opened at $51.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27. Nutrien Ltd. has a one year low of $43.69 and a one year high of $60.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $46.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.81.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.26%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.97%.

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.