Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $64.2353.

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Nutrien in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Nutrien from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nutrien in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $395,842,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Nutrien by 48.5% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,944,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $696,058,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900,755 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the second quarter valued at approximately $150,416,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,268,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627,328 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Nutrien by 16.5% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,368,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $432,838,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,766 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Price Performance

NYSE NTR opened at $59.34 on Thursday. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $45.78 and a 12 month high of $65.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. Nutrien had a return on equity of 7.54% and a net margin of 6.79%.The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 58.76%.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. is a global fertilizer and agricultural-services company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The company is publicly traded and operates across the farm input value chain, combining upstream fertilizer production with a broad retail and services platform aimed at supporting crop production worldwide. Nutrien’s business model integrates the manufacture and distribution of crop nutrients with on-the-ground agronomic support for growers and agricultural businesses.

Nutrien produces and supplies the three primary fertilizer nutrients—potash, nitrogen and phosphate—through its wholesale operations, and markets a wide range of crop inputs including seeds and crop protection products.