Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Nutrien (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 12,272 call options on the company. This is an increase of 180% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,377 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Nutrien during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in Nutrien by 50.0% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 900 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Nutrien by 33.3% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden bought a new position in Nutrien in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on NTR shares. TD Securities decreased their price target on Nutrien from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.44.

Nutrien Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $50.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.26. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $44.65 and a 52-week high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.15. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.97% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The company had revenue of $10.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products.