Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Cut to Neutral at BNP Paribas Exane

BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Nutrien from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Nutrien from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Nutrien from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nutrien has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.47.

Nutrien Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NTR opened at $72.48 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $66.83 and its 200 day moving average is $61.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Nutrien has a 12-month low of $45.78 and a 12-month high of $73.55. The company has a market capitalization of $34.90 billion, a PE ratio of 15.55 and a beta of 0.73.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 37.8% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 220,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,958,000 after buying an additional 60,491 shares during the period. Colrain Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 35.6% in the third quarter. Colrain Capital LLC now owns 128,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,595,000 after buying an additional 33,650 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 122.1% during the 3rd quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 68,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,000,000 after acquiring an additional 37,447 shares during the last quarter. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new position in Nutrien during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,511,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 69,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,051,000 after acquiring an additional 11,704 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.