Swiss National Bank Sells 82,200 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,402,436 shares of the company’s stock after selling 82,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.29% of Nutrien worth $82,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTR. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Nutrien by 42.4% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 27.7% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 937 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in Nutrien in the second quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $76.10 on Wednesday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12-month low of $45.78 and a 12-month high of $78.08. The stock has a market cap of $36.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.01 and its 200-day moving average is $62.17. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The company had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Nutrien’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 2.9%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Nutrien from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.82.

Nutrien 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.