Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires Shares of 86,598 Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 86,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,166,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Goodman Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 4.6% in the third quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 253,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,201,000 after purchasing an additional 11,058 shares during the period. CORDA Investment Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 7.0% in the third quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 494,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,777,000 after acquiring an additional 32,541 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Nutrien by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,742,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,812,000 after purchasing an additional 157,932 shares in the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Nutrien by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 564,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,139,000 after purchasing an additional 23,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in Nutrien by 335.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 70,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,379,000 after purchasing an additional 54,138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Up 0.5 %

Nutrien stock opened at $48.18 on Friday. 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 $44.65 and a one year high of $60.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.80.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. Nutrien’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.939 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 144.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NTR. UBS Group downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, CIBC reaffirmed an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 target price (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nutrien has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.95.

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.