Blume Capital Management Inc. Takes Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Blume Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 15,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 904.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the third quarter valued at about $58,000. Andra AP fonden purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Nutrien in the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Trading Up 4.5 %

Nutrien stock traded up $2.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $57.93. The stock had a trading volume of 1,602,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,952,360. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12 month low of $47.90 and a 12 month high of $69.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.62.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Raymond James cut Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

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.