Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Zacks Research lowered shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on NTR. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Nutrien from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.82.

Nutrien Price Performance

Nutrien stock opened at $74.39 on Monday. Nutrien has a 52 week low of $45.78 and a 52 week high of $78.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $67.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.54. The stock has a market cap of $35.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

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

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 46.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 65.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 9,950 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the 1st quarter worth about $516,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Nutrien in the 1st quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Nutrien by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 253,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,786,000 after buying an additional 31,233 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.