Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Grows Position in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 41.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 217,877 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 63,915 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $13,447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 21,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528 shares during the period. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 38,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,395,000 after acquiring an additional 8,697 shares during the period. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the 4th quarter valued at $312,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE:NTR opened at $75.72 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $72.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.95. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $45.78 and a 1-year high of $85.36. 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 firm has a market cap of $36.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $63.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.33.

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.