Nutrien (TSE:NTR) Downgraded by National Bank Financial to Hold

National Bank Financial cut shares of Nutrien (TSE:NTR) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Berenberg Bank lowered Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Scotiabank raised Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a C$80.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from C$96.00 to C$63.00 in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nutrien has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$74.33.

Nutrien Stock Performance

TSE:NTR opened at C$100.68 on Tuesday. Nutrien has a 1 year low of C$74.77 and a 1 year high of C$116.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is C$93.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$97.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.14. The firm has a market capitalization of C$48.05 billion, a PE ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.68.

Nutrien (TSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported C$3.71 earnings per share for the quarter. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The firm had revenue of C$15.36 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 5.3416399 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Noralee Bradley bought 300 shares of Nutrien stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$86.16 per share, with a total value of C$25,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,155 shares in the company, valued at C$530,314.80. This trade represents a 5.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Mark Thompson purchased 279 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$89.86 per share, for a total transaction of C$25,070.94. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 37,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$3,357,798.62. This represents a 0.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 624 shares of company stock worth $55,228. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Nutrien

Nutrien is a leading global provider of crop inputs and services. We operate a world-class network of production, distribution and ag retail facilities that positions us to efficiently serve the needs of growers. We focus on creating long-term value by prioritizing investments that strengthen the advantages of our business across the ag value chain and by maintaining access to the resources and the relationships with stakeholders needed to achieve our goals.