Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Purchases 690 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 67,816 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 690 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $3,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Silchester International Investors LLP raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 164.4% during the third quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,437,000 after acquiring an additional 6,642,075 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Nutrien during the 3rd quarter worth $150,181,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,668,000 after buying an additional 1,794,333 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 2,495,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,271,000 after buying an additional 1,100,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 34.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,066,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,385,000 after buying an additional 1,032,763 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR stock opened at $48.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.80. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52-week low of $44.65 and a 52-week high of $60.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.26. 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 (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The company had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.939 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.70%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 144.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities cut their price objective on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Raymond James raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.06.

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.