Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $71.81 and last traded at $70.18, with a volume of 2328706 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.88.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.88.

Nutrien Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $33.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.41.

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

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 58.76%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NTR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Nutrien by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,983,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,291,022,000 after purchasing an additional 80,135 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,221,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $834,962,000 after buying an additional 2,276,651 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 14.0% during 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 buying an additional 1,627,328 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,368,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $432,838,000 after buying an additional 1,043,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 2nd quarter worth $395,842,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.