Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.25.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank raised Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Nutrien from $86.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 4th quarter valued at about $332,716,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 51.3% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,853,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,881,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322,679 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 120.2% in the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 3,780,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,421,000 after purchasing an additional 2,063,881 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 9,226,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,309,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 12,017,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $676,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960,162 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Up 2.9 %

NTR stock opened at $54.08 on Tuesday. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $47.90 and a 12 month high of $70.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $26.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.94.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.35). Nutrien had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The business had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. Nutrien’s quarterly revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect 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 was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 85.38%.

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.