Nutrien Ltd. $NTR Shares Sold by Silchester International Investors LLP

Silchester International Investors LLP trimmed its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,055,993 shares of the company’s stock after selling 925,454 shares during the period. Nutrien makes up about 94.7% of Silchester International Investors LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Silchester International Investors LLP owned approximately 0.84% of Nutrien worth $250,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NTR. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 79,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,691,000 after buying an additional 15,230 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,854,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,901,000 after buying an additional 25,588 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 190.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 116,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,829,000 after buying an additional 76,244 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC raised 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 worth $12,958,000 after acquiring an additional 60,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Colrain Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 35.6% during the third quarter. Colrain Capital LLC now owns 128,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,595,000 after acquiring an additional 33,650 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NTR stock opened at $75.72 on Friday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $45.78 and a 1-year high of $85.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $36.43 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $72.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.95.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly 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). 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 firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. 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. Investors 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 yield of 2.9%. 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. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $77.00 to $100.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Nutrien from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.33.

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.