Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,854,650 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,588 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.38% of Nutrien worth $108,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smith Moore & CO. boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% during the third quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 7,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 30,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,811,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 1.9% during the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 10,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 4,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 1.5% during the third quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NTR. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on Nutrien from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on Nutrien from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.82.

Nutrien Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $76.10 on Wednesday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $45.78 and a 1-year high of $78.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $36.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.17.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

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.